mm^w 







:r' 






'. --^ 



.7/^ 



%^: 



vV O 









o " o 






M'" .^"'V, 



, ""*. 





























■%^ ./ :^ 




,0^ «<•"•. 'O 





V. B. GRINNELU 

VINTON. IOWA. 



GRINNELL'S 



ON 



F^.A.iisnriNG 



By V. B. GRINNELL. Painter. 



^ 



^ '-^ J^ FR^CTIOAL boob: 



r 



h.y 



OK 



HOUSE, SIGN AND CARRIAGE WORK 

WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR THE LEARNER. 





^ ^^ 



\ 



A. 



GRINNELL'S 

HAND BOOK ON PAINTING. 



CoPYKiGHTED BY V. B. GRINNELL, Author. 
1894. 



The following is an infallible and simple commercial 
test of the purity of white lead : 

"Take a piece of firm, close-grained charcoal, and near 
one end of it scoop out a cavity about half an inch in 
diameter and a quarter of an inch in depth. Place in the 
cavity a sample of the lead to be tested, about the size of 
a small pea, and apply to it continuously the blue or hottest 
part of the flame of the blow-pipe ; if the sample be strictly 
pure, it will, in a very short time, say in two minutes, be 
reduced to metallic lead, leaving no residue ; but if it be 
adulterated, even to the extent of ten per cent, only, with 
oxide of zinc, sulphate of baryta, whiting or any other car- 
bonate of lime (which substances are the principal adulter- 
ations used), or if it be composed entirely of these materials, 
as is sometimes the case with cheap lead (so-called), it can- 
not be reduced, but will remain on the charcoal in an 
infusible mass. 

A blow-pipe can be obtained from any jeweler at small 
cost. An alcohol lamp, star candle, or a lard oil lamp 
furnishes the best flaime for use of the blow-pipe. This 
test is very simple and any one can very soon learn to make 
it with ease and skill." 



2 GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 

JAPAN. 

Always cut your japan in a little turps before 3'ou 
add it to the paint. An ounce of japan, cut witli 
turps, will do better work thati two ounces in oil 2')cn'nt^ 
if put in clear. Don't add dryer to any more 2^(^int 
than you can use up in a few hours, because it will 
soon commence to fatten your paint in the pot and 
lessen its covering and wearing properties. Many a 
job has been spoiled by using old color, doped with 
japan. Such paint is liable to mildew. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE USE OP CHEAP DRY OCHRE AS iL 
PRIMER. 

1st. It is too dark for light colored work, because- 
sooner or later, it will show through in spots, or darkea 
the entire work. 

2d. It leaves a rough, coarse surface which the- 
succeeding coats fail to completely level up. 

3d. Succeeding coats are liable to scale from cheap 
coarse ochre priming. 

PAINTING TIN ROOFS. 

When paint scales from a tin roof, it is not always 
the fault of the paint. It stands the painter in hand 
to carefully examine a new tin roof before painting it. 
When the tinner uses rosin as a flux to make his solder 
flow, the rosin is melted and cools again on the tin. 
When such is the case, carefully scrape it off with a 
knife, otherwise it will be liable to scale off, and take 
the paint with it. 

When acid is used in the place of rosin, it is apt to- 



GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 3 

3orrode the tin, hence, it is best, if you want a perma- 
nent job, to clean off the acid. To do this, first rub 
the seams with kerosene oil, then wash with soap suds 
4ind rinse with clean water. If the roof is quite new, 
and the tin feels greas}', go over it with a wash made 
of one pound of sal-soda to six quarts of water, let it 
stand one-half da}^ ; then wash the tin with clear water. 
Instead of this method, I have given new tin a 
good rubbing with No. 1 sandpaper to make it hold 
the paint. 



ANALYSIS OF OCHRE. 

Below is an analysis of a sample of French ochre, 
which is about the average of that pigment : 

Hydrated oxide of iron ... 42 parts. 

Alumina 20 " 

Silica 38 " 

The oxide gives the color ; the parts as given 
above, are in the right proportion to give the most 
-stable color, and durable body to be found in ochre. 

Here is an ochre, which was ground in a linseed oil 
substitute, and sold to the trade at four cents per 
pound in twenty-five pound cans, and retailed to the 
painter at seven cents per pound in cans. To-wit : — 

Barytes 58 parts. 

Whiting 15 " 

Oxide of iron, silicate and akimina . 2^ " 

Chrome yellow 2^ " 



4 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

This so called ochre could be ground in one-half 
the oil it would take to grind yellow ochre. 

ANOTHER. 

Poor chrome yellow 8 parts. 

Ochre 25 " 

Whiting 67 " 

Ground in snide oil, and sold to jobbers at live- 
cents per pound, to painters eight and ten cents. 

ANOTHER. 

Barytes 62.90 parts. 

Ochre 40.00 " 

Barytes is not ochre, and this was sold as pure- 
ochre. 

14.N0THER. 

Sold as French ochre, and recommended for priming r: 

Oxide of iron, alumina . . . 19.79 parts. 

Silica 40.93 " 

Whiting 11.57 " 

Barytes 26.64 " 

ANOTHER IN OIL. 

Chrome yellow 12 parts. 

Whiting 25 " 

Barytes 63 " 

Oil 13 " 

The markets are flooded with such imitations of 
ochre both dry and in oil. The quantity of oiL 
required to grind pure French ochre makes it high- 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. .5 

priced, hence, there is a motive for putting in barytes, 
which takes but little oil in grinding. 



YELLOW IRON ORE. 

Much of the so called dry ochre on the market is 
a yellow iron ore and not yellow ochre. When mixed 
in oil and put on a tin roof, it will turn brown inside 
of ninety days. I presume you have had experience 
with such stuff. This makes a bad primer, it is very 
liable to scale. 

CRAWLING PAINT. 

When paint crawls, it is because there is not 
sufficient adhesion between the undercoat and the new 
coat, caused usually by too much gloss on the under- 
coat. To prevent crawling, subdue the gloss on the 
undercoat, by sandpapering, rubbing, or by the appli- 
cation of some material which will have the desired 
effect ; or if on the outside, wait until the gloss has been 
subdued by the elements. There is nothing more 
trying to one's patience, than to have the paint let go 
and crawl up in bunches after it has been carefully 
brushed out. Hence, it is well to provide against such 
trouble in advance. The observing painter has no 
doubt noticed, that paint is more liable to crawl under 
cornices, and upon other sheltered positions, then els- 
where ; hence, it is best in all such sheltered places^ 
where the elements do not have full play , to use sufficient 
turpentine to prevent a high gloss on the undercoats. 



6 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

TO PAINT BLINDS AND NOT DAUB YOUR HANDS. 

First, have a stick to open and shut the slats with 
after you commence to paint. Second, leave a place 
on each stile, or side rail, half way between the hinges, 
six or eight inches long, unpainted, except to cut in 
the edge next the end of the slats to take hold of 
when you turn the blind over or set it aside ; also leave 
the bottom hinge unpainted. After you have set up 
the blind, hold it up b} the unpainted hinge until you 
finish the stiles ; then lean it up against its support 
and touch up the hinge. In this way you need get no 
more paint on your hands than you would in painting 
a door. No time will be lost, because you can touch 
up the stiles in less time than it would take to wipe 
your hands and brush handle. Such precautions were 
a matter of life and death to us in ye olden time when 
we painted blinds with Paris green, which happily now 
is used no more, except to kill potato bugs. 

LEGLESS STEP-LADDERS. 

Step-ladders without legs, for outside work, are 
good things to have on the job. Say, three of them, 
6, 8 and 10 feet long. A man of good height can paint 
14 feet high from the ten-foot ladder. They are much 
easier on the feet than a ' ' round " ladder. You can 
stand straighter and reach farther when standing on a 
step than you can while trying to balance on a round 
stick ; besides, a step is a handy place to set your 
pail on. 



Orinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 



\^^-^^^=^^^ 



^.^ 




^' i/ 

''What shall 1 do? ^ 

My home needs paint I 

The windows putty I 

The walls kalsomine I 

An advertisement catches my eye: 

Saying : B/isS Roc/c Paint is the best I 

I will try it at once I" 

That's right; always use the best. 



Will Not Scale, Chalk or Blister. 



HiiiiMiii.niiiiiiiii iiiii 



Correspondence solicited. 

BLISS ROCK PAINT CO.. 

VJNTON, IOWA. 

See pages 81, 82 and 8 . 



Grinnell's Haud Book on Painting, 







^^PAINT^>> 



MAY BE HARD ON THE 
FELLOW 
WHO GETS DIPPED. 

BUT, FOR DIPPING PAINT,. 
TO USE IN FACTORIES, 

IT HAS NO EQUAL. 

IT ADHERES WELL, AND' 
FORMS A SOLID COATING ON 
IRON OR WOOD. 



Grinuell's Hand Book on Painting. 9 



T^lrre; 



METAL BUILDING MATERIAL CO, 



OF Vinton, Iov/a, 



USE 



Buss Rock Paint 



ON THEIR 



Steel Oeiling, 

K^oofing 

and. Siding 




Address : 

THE METAL BUILDING MATERIAL CO. 




10 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



MANUFACTURED BY 

THE BLISS ROCK PAINT CO., 

. VINTON, IOWA. 

Is Unsurpassed as a Polisher and Cleaner. 11^ 



SE2 




Dentists and Jewelers use it . 



IS BEING RAPIDLY SOLD. 
BY RETAIL GROCERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. 



Grinuell's Hand Book on Paintiug. 11 

SUCCESS IN PAINTING. 

Painting don't pay, eh ? No wonder it don't pay^ 
because here you are spending half your time growling. 
The facts in the case are, "You are not onto your job."^^ 
If there is no possibility of making money at the trade, 
how is it that your competitor gets along so well ? 
Why is it that he accumulates and you lose ? He goes 
into the same market for labor, material and jobs that 
you do. He comes out every fall with his pockets full, 
and 3'ou round up poor as a church mouse. There- 
must be a screw loose somewhere in your management. 
Will I point one out ? Certainly, we have alv*^ays been 
friends, and I can never do too much for a friend. In 
the first place you are too impetuous ; in other words, 
too hot-headed. When you get your blood up, you 
will underbid your competitor if it takes the skin off 
your own nose. You forget for the time that bills for 

labor and material will fall due, that you must live 

and you take the job at losing figures. You ought to- 
realize that the success of a contracting painter depends 
upon his business qualifications. To-wit : Correct 
and careful estimates, coolness in bidding, care in 
selecting materials and men, systematizing his work sa 
as to keep each man in the right place. I don't know 
how much you are getting for this job, but it looks to 
me that you ^e losing money every day by using j^oor 
material and improper handling of your men. The 
good business man prefers the strictly pure Dutch 
process white lead, to the adulterated brands. He use& 
pure linseed oil, instead of the snide mixtures and 



12 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

imitations of it, and he never loses sight of the fact, 
that a good reputation is a mine of gold to him. If he 
finds a man is a good hand on a ladder or swing stage, 
he keeps him there, and if he finds a man an expert at 
inside work, he keeps him there, and if he finds a man 
is a poor stick in any place, he lets him go, rush or no 
rush. If he has high work, he provides a safe and 
easy way to get there. If he has inside work, his step- 
ladders are equal to the work. He knows when a man 
has to reach too far or stand on top of a ladder he 
can't half work. Learn to manage your men, to keep 
the right man in the right place. Stop making ruinous 
bids. Open your eyes to the fact, that a man who 
makes a losing bid on a job, to beat his competitor, 
acts like an idiot, and is meaner than flies in paint. 

(From "The Western Painter.") 
GUESSING ON WORK. 

The practice of estimating work by guess has 
brought many a painter up with a round turn in the 
fall dead broke, and in debt. The curious part of it 
is that the lesson is rarely, if ever, learned. Boys, don't 
be too smart. Guessing on work is mighty uncertain 
bussiness. 

GLASS GILDING. 

A practical expert in an English journal, the 
< 'Plumber and Decorator", gives the following as his 
process acquired and tested b}" many years experience. 

The tools and materials required for glass gilding, 
are the same as used for gilding in oil, excepting the 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 13 

^old size. Oil gold size would never do for glass work. 
In glass gilding, the object is to get a size or mordant 
which will have the least possible tendenc}^ to destroy 
or mar the burnish of the gold leaf. This is absolutely 
necessary, when we consider that in this kind of work 
the size is before the gold, not as in oil gilding — be- 
hind it. For a mordant, nothing can be better than the 
best isinglass. To prepare this for use, the utmost 
care and cleanliness should be exercised. The water 
must be quite pure — free from grease or impurities of 
;any kind. In preparing the size, the following may be 
relied upon as a first-class recipe : Boil about one 
pint of water in a perfectly clean pan. Should any 
«cum rise during the operation, remove it with 
a large spoon. Then add about as much isinglass 
as will lie on a six-penny piece to the boiling water. 
This is best done a little at a time to prevent it gather- 
ing in a mass before it has a chance of dissolving. 
When the isinglass is dissolved, strain the size through 
:a fine silk handkerchief, folded double or fourfold, or, 
better still, through some white blotting paper. This 
straining or filtering will remove any bits or impurities 
that may have lodged unperceived in the isinglass. 
When cool, the mordant is ready for applying to the 
glass. Some gilders like to add spirit in some form — 
generally spirits of wine— to their size. Their reasons 
for doing this are not always very explicit. Some do 
it, because they have seen others do it. Others add it, 
they say, to give the gold a better burnish, or, to make 
it better adhere to the glass. This is a delusion. The 



14 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

most sensible reason for its use was imparted to mt- 
by a veteran in the trade. He used spirits of wine to 
take out or kill any slight greasiness that may have 
been in the water or isinglass. I must confess thai 
until I learned this, spirits always formed part of my 
mordant, because others used it. However, on further 
consideration, its use has been discarded, and if any- 
thing, a better burnish on the gold is the result. In 
making the size it must be born in mind that the less 
isinglass used, the brighter will be the gilding when 
completed. Of course, if too little be used, the gold 
will not adhere to the glass as it should, and this would 
cause much damage and annoyance when the isinglass 
size was floated on again to proceed with the second 
gilding. When the size is too strong, or contains too 
much isinglass, no amount of burnishing will remove 
it altogether from before the gold. These are impor- 
tant points and should be carefully studied. But a 
little practice soon teaches the gilder how to arri\e at 
the happ3' medium. 

There are a variety of purposes to which ornamenta. 
glass gilding may be applied besides sign work, shop 
fronts, or glass doors. It is now much used for show 
cases, window tablets, druggists' bottles, fixtures, and 
pilasters for shop-fronts. Very often the design is em- 
bossed or bit into the glass, and worked up with gold 
and silver leaf besides being picked out in colors. 
This is both a costly and effective method of decorating, 
which shall have full consideration in a future chapter 
For the present it will, no doubt, be advisable to con 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. - 15 

Bider the simpler form of glass-gilding. When this 
is thoroughly understood, very little further instruction 
is needed for high-class work. 

For the sake of example we will suppose a glass 
slab, about three feet six by twelve inches, is the sub- 
ject to be treated. This is to have black letters with- 
out thickness or shadow on a gold ground. There are 
two methods of doing this. One is, to first paint on the 
glass the letters with japan black, and afterwards gild 
the plate. The other consists in fii'st gilding the plate 
solid, and then painting in the background with japaa 
black. By this method the lettering is left untouched. 
The gold on these is then washed otf, the edges trim- 
med, and the letters themselves painted black or any 
other desired color. This latter is, perhaps, the most 
satisfactary. However, a few lines of explanation will 
be devoted to each process. 

First in order comes a plate, the letters on which 
are painted with japan black previous to gilding. To 
the learner, no doubt, the plain block letters will prove 
an attraction, because of their simplicity. This should 
be set out correctly on a sheet of lining paper. It will 
only be necessary to run in an outline of the letters. 
When completed to the satisfaction of the operator, it 
may be pasted round the edges and fixed on the face 
of the glass. The back of the glass, that is the side 
upon which the work is done, should be quite clean. 
When the plate is fixed on an easel or stand, which is 
the most convenient place for working, the letters will, 
of course, read backwards. In this form... they must 



16 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

be painted. When quite dry and hard, should the out- 
lines of the letters be irregular, they may be set right 
in a very simple manner. All that is required to ac- 
complish this, is a metal straightedge, and a sharp 
quarter inch joiner's chisel. The straightedge is laid 
across the tops and bottoms of the letters, and the 
chisel is employed to cut them sharp and true. The 
sides of the straight letters are then similarly treated, 
curves must be perfected with a writing-pencil. The 
paper may now be taken from the face of the glass and 
the plate examined all over. Should any specks of 
black be found on it, they must be removed before 
the gilding is gone on with. The smallest speck shows 
up before the gold-leaf. If convenient, before gilding 
have the plate fixed at an angle of about 45 degrees. 
While in this position, take a flat gilders' mop, and 
float the isinglass size over the glass. Then take up 
the cushion, take out a few leaves of gold from the 
book, and whilst the glass is wet, cover it with gold, 
lifting the gold from the cushion as described in the 
last chapter. If possible, lift a whole leaf at once, but 
should this at first prove troublesome, try half a leaf. 
Keep the glass wet with the size, and overlap slightly 
each successive leaf of gold until the whole of the 
glass is covered. 

The glass must now dry before it can be re-gilded, 
and must then be gently rubbed with the finest cotton 
wool. It is an easy matter to ascertain whether it is dry 
or not. When wet, the gold, if looked at from the front 
of the glass, has a dead look, but if dry, it shows up 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 17 

bright. If possible, leave the plate till next day before 
giving it a second coat of gold. The advantage of this 
delay is obvious. The gold has time to get hard, which 
materially reduces the risk of its being removed when 
a second application of size is necessary. 

To the novice, it will, no doubt, appear at first sight 
both a waste of time and gold to gild all over the work 
again, but if the plate be held up to the light, it will 
show many imperfections in the shape ot small holes, 
cracks, and imperfect joinings. Another coat of size 
floated on, and another layer of gold over the whole of 
the work, should turn out a so far satisfactory finish. 
Let the glass dry again, and be subjected to a further 
examination for faulty places. Should any be found, 
cover them with more gold. But if the work is satis- 
factory, it is ready for the burnishing process. The 
first stage is to polish the gold by gently rubbing with 
fine cotton wool, care being taken not to scratch the 
gold. This is, of couse, only a repetition of the 
polishing after the first layer of gold. 

There are several methods in general use for obtain- 
ing that brilliant burnish so much admkod in glass 
gilding. But the one that meets with most favor and 
success is what is called the "hot water burnish." It 
will be advisable to practice on the glass under con- 
sideration. After the cotton wool polishing is com- 
pleted, warm the glass either by holding it before a 
fire or gently pouring warm water over it. This is only 
a precaution against breakage by sudden expansion. 
Now let it dry, and while warm, polish again with the 



18 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

cotton wool. Repeat the pouring of water, hotter than 
the last, and when the glass is dry. after this operation, 
gently rub it again with cotton wool. This hot water 
flushing should be carried on until the burnish is quite 
satisfactory. But it must be very carefully done, else 
the gold runs a risk of bring washed off in patches. 

HOW TO ESTIMATE WORK. 

Measure your work with the tape-line, and be sure 
you get all there is in it ; projections, depressions, 
mouldings, edges, etc. 

Many a painter has dropped his profits by not 
taking in these little particulars. Every bead, sunken 
or raised panel makes an edge to paint. The edges of 
ordinary weather boarding add ten per cent, to the 
surface, to say nothing of the edges of the corner 
boards, and window and door casings. — The pro- 
jections and depressions in the panels of an ordinary 
four paneled door, add at least ten per cent, to the sur- 
face to be painted. Then let me say to you again, look 
closely for edges, projections, depressions, hollows, and 
rounds. They all count when you paint them ; and it 
is your fault if they are not included in the estimate. 
When you have multiplied the number of feet around 
a house by the average height and reduced it to yards, 
you have only made a start. Measure the cornice, 
follow the hollows, rounds, and edges with the line. 
There is lots of surface in mouldings. The tape-line is 
good as far as you can make it go, but it can't do it 
all. You must use judgment in connection with it ; 



Orlnnell's Hand Book on Painting. 19 

and carefully estimate the condition of the work, what 
per cent, is slow to paint, or high and difficult to reach. 
For instance, what is the condition of the surface, is it 
porous and full of cracks ? Is everry joint gaping for 
putt}' ? Is the putty on the windows rough and 
broken ? Is the old paint cracked, blistered and 
scaling ? Is the cornice ornamented with dentils, 
brackets, and panels ? Is the work difficult to reach ? 
You may lose a day or a week of extra time on a high 
tower or cupola, if you fail to put it into your estimate 
as extra hard to reach. Make the price accordingly. 
Are the blind-slats stuck fast, and difficult to paint ? 
Is the work to be done in the busy season when labor 
antl material are high priced, and good men are hard 
to get ; or in the dull season when dealers will cut 
prices, and good men are hunting for work ? Bidding 
on specifications must be done with care. You can 
figure the number of yards to be painted, but there are 
many points which the completed job can alone dis- 
close. A provision in your contract to cover all 
changes in specifications comes mighty handy on the 
day of final settlement. It is not safe to make any- 
thing like a close bid on specifications, until the 
following questions have been settled, and put in 3^our 
contract. To-wit : — Will the building be delivered to 
you at a specified time, finished and cleaned out and 
put iu good condition for the painter ; or will you be 
expected to commence before the work is finished, and 
paint as the work is put up, and epend as much time 
dusting and sweeping as you do at painting? Will 



20 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

the machine-dressed lumber, including mouldings, 
doors, window-stops etc. , be put in as it comes from 
the factory rough and fuzzy ; or will it be redressed, 
and made smooth and ready for the paint ? These 
points ma}^ look to you like small matters, but they 
count when you come to paint the work. If you are 
to do a fine job, stipulate in your contract that the 
wood-work etc. shall be finished in good shape. If 
you are to paint the work as you find it, have it so 
stated in your contract. Paste this motto in the top 
of your hat and read it often : ' 'It is always better to 
lose a job than to get it, and lose money on it. 

Two houses may be of equal dimensions, yet it 
may be worth 50 per cent, more to paint one than the 
other ; hence, any definite scale of prices for work by 
the yard is liable to be misleading. We may 
determine by the line how much there is of the work, 
but we must rely upon our judgment and experience 
to determine how much it will cost to do it. 

ONE WAY TO MEASURE A JOB. 

Find the surface measure of the entire job, in- 
cluding all edges and projections, and estimate how 
much it is worth per yard, on the basis that it is all plain 
work, easy to get at. Next, we will proceed by what we 
may call special measurement : Suppose the cornice 
measures 60 yards, and is finished with blocks, 
moulded panels and brackets, and we estimate that 
the cost of painting it will be three times that of a 
plain cornice, hence, we will add two measures or 120 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 31 

yards to the general or first measurement. Next, 
suppose each window and casing measures three yards, 
and there are 20 of them to be trimmed in colors, 
we estimate the work of painting them, double that of 
plain work; hence, we add, to our special measure- 
ment 60 yards. If there is a cupola high and difficult 
to reach, we estimate that it will be worth double the 
cost of painting ordinary work to do it. Say, it 
measures 50 yards, we will add 50 yards to the 
general measurement, and so we will go on until we 
have taken in all parts of the work which will cost 
more than ordinar}^ plain work. 

To illustrate : The building measures 600 yards, 
and as plain work we estimate it worth twenty cents per 
yard to paint it. We amount our special measure- 
ment which we will say adds up to 300 yards, which 
added to the 600 yards general measurement, makes 
900, which at twenty cents per yard, makes $180.00. 
The same system may be used inside. 

TO SOFTEN HARD LUMPY PUTTY. 

Break the putty into lumps ; put it in a kettle with 
enough water to cover it ; add a little raw oil, and boil 
and stir well while hot. The putty will absorb the oil; 
pour off the water, let the putty cool, then work it, 
and 3'our putty will be good as new. 

TACKY PAINT ON CHURCH SEATS &C. 

During my experience as a painter, I have been 
called upon to repaint tacky seats, in at l^ast half a 
dozen churches. Such seats are an unmitigated nui- 



22 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

sance. Tacky paint may be the result of putting too 
much japan in oil paint, or of using fat oil, or paint which 
had been mixed a long time, especially if it had very 
much japan in it, or by mixing oil and varnish, or by 
putting varnish on oil paint, especially if the paint had 
not been given time to dry hard before it was varnished. 
To harden tacky paint trj^ this : Take one part japan 
and three parts of turpentine, and give the work a coat 
of the mixture. That will usually effect a cure, unless 
the paint is soft clear to the wood. A coat of shellac 
will some times do the work all right. Such seats 
usually seem all right until warmed by the heat of 
the body; hence we may be satisfied that the fault is in 
the oil used in the pamt or varnish. It is best on that 
account to use but little if any oil when painting seats 
of any kind. Coat up with color ground in japan and 
thinned with turps ; varnish the part which comes in 
contact with the body with shellac varnish. 

I have painted seats this way, and never heard of 
any further trouble with them. 

To repaint tacky seats the best way is to burn off 
the old paint, and coat up as above; because, if a hard 
drying paint is put over the old soft paint it is liable 
to crack. It is well however to see if the turpentme 
and japan will work a cure, or if a coat of shellac will 
stop the trouble. To do this it is well to first experi- 
ment on one seat, or upon a small surface. 

I have killed tacky paint, by rubbing it with a 
cloth wet with ammonia; when dry, trj' it, and see if 
the "tack" is gone; if not, go over it again; when dry, 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 23 

put on a coat of shellac varnish ; this is a pretty sure 
cure. 

TESTING JAPAN. 

If japan smells of benzine don't buy it. Mix it with 
clear oil, if it curdles, you don't want it. Mix drop 
black with some of it ; as stiff as good drop black 
ground in japan, then thin with turps and make a 
painting test, to see if it is a good binder. To see if 
it will crack paint on glass, let it dry and hold the glass 
between your eye and the light. If you see fine cracks 
don't buy any of it. 

When you go to buy japan, ask the dealer who 
made it. If he don't know, make up your mind at 
once, that it is a fatherless waif without a name^ and 
likely to be worthless. When a man makes a good 
thing he is apt to send his name along with it as an 
advertisement. This appUes to all material. There 
is a great deal of bad japan on the market, and a great 
amount of work ruined by it. Buy none unless it 
bears the brand of a reputable maker, and will stand 
these tests. 

I do not need to tell the practical painter that there 
is a great amount of bad japan on the market, and that 
a great deal of paint is ruined by it. Buy no japan 
unless the can bears the name of some reputable 
manufacturer, and will stand the above tests. 

WHY DO PAINTS AND VARNISHES CRACK. 

The following paper was read by Mr. A. P. Sweet, 
of lona, Mich. , at a meeting of Master Car Painters, 



24 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

SUBJECT : 
< ' Why do paints and varnishes crack, and what is the 
reason that cracks in the latter are usually at right- 
angles to the grain of the wood V 

The subject, as I understand it, relates to the crack- 
ing of varnishes, etc., as experienced in connection 
with passenger car work, and as such I introduce it 
for discussion before this association. 

There are many theories as to the cause of the 
cracking of paints and varnishes. Some are well de- 
fined, others are not satisfactorily explained. 

I do not anticipate being able to add much to what 
is already known, but will advance a few thoughts^ 
which may call forth the views of others on the sub- 
ject. 

The old adage : "It takes two to make a quarrel, "^ 
is as true when applied to paints and varnishes as it i& 
to individuals. A single coat of either seldom, if ever, 
produces cracks. These make their appearance only 
after two or more coats have been applied ; consequently, 
it is necessary to have a body of color or varnish, con- 
sisting of two or more coats, before any trouble of thi& 
kind makes itself manifest. 

This being the case, it follows that the cause of the 
diflSculty must be sought for in the coatings them- 
selves, either in the quality of the material employed 
or in the mode of applying them. 

Poor and cheap oils and japans, — especially the 
latter — are a fruitful source of cracking in paint ; but 
by far the most prolific one, in my opinion, is the hur- 



Grmn^-n's Hand Book on Painting, 25 

ried application of the succeeding coats before the pre- 
ceding ones are dry enough to receive them. If suf- 
ficient time is not given, cracks will inevitably follow 
such a mode of procedure. 

I am of the opinion, also, that very little blame 
can be attached to the wood used in the construction. 
of cars, as most of it is comparatively well seasoned, 
and its expansive and contractive force is not suflBcient 
to cause serious trouble. If green wood was used there 
might be room for this excuse, especially where the 
cracks run in the direction of the grain, and are large 
and deep. 

Before pursuing this subject further, it may be well 
to examine a little into the theory of the drving of 
paint. It is purely a chemical proc-ess, not a mechan- 
ical one, as some suppose. Paint dries by the evapo- 
ration of its volatile parts and its absorption of oxygen;, 
it is heavier when dried than when in the liquid 
form, having attached to itself a sufficient amount of 
oxygen to very perceptibly increase the weight, some 
6 per cent. 

The best grades of linseed oil are said to contain 
from 70 to 80 per cent of substance called iinoleine ; a 
resinous and slow-drying oil and acid which imparts 
to the oil its elasticity. 

In the process of drying, contraction occurs. The 
various atoms of which the coatings are copaposed, 
move closer and closer together; and as this contract- 
ing force is easier with than across the grain, cracks at 
right angles to it are formed. This fact suggests the 



26 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

necessity of so adjusting the elasticity of the various 
coats that the force exerted in drying may be as nearly 
•equalized as possible; as their contracting force is con- 
tinued until all elasticity has left the paint and oxygen 
ceases to be absorbed, all the oil acid has disappeared, 
and nothing but a hard, brittle surface remains. 

Under the microscope, in the first stage of cracking, 
the surface presents nothing unusual except that the 
cracks appear clean cut and sharp on the edges. As 
months pass by and the surface is exposed to the at- 
mospheric changes of heat and cold, wet and dry, the 
cracks become more numerous; and in the last stage, 
when the oil is entirely destroyed, the surface assumes 
the appearance of innumerable rectangular masses, 
higher in the center than at the edges, like small 
mounds raised by the process of contraction and ad- 
hesion. 

Cracking in color coats m^y, by careful attention to 
preliminaries, be reduced to a minimum, provided good 
first-class materials are used and sufficient time is given 
to each coat to dry. 

Where varnish is to be applied as a finish, all coat- 
ings should have oil in their composition and yet be 
mixed to dry flat. They should be applied very evenly 
and thinly, even if it necessitates an extra coat, to 
cover and make a solid job. 

Striping and ornamenting should be done on flat 
color, which gives time for hardening, and fits it for 
the varnish coats to follow. If work is done in this 
way, I think very little fear of premature crackino- 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 3T 

need be entertained ; at least, not until time and 
^veather have sufficient opportunity to play havoc with 
its beauty, and natural decay of the materials them- 
selves necessitates a thorough overhauling and repair- 

ing. 

Rubbing varnishes are another source of trouble, 
causincr the succeeding coats of finishing varnish ta 
show signs of cracking long before they otherwise 
would, as it does not agree with the slower drying var- 
nishes usually applied above it, being of a harder and 
more brittle character, serving the purpose of produc- 
ing a fine, smooth surf ace, but sacrificmg the durability 

of the job. 

Concerning the cracking of varnish, I have not 
much to say. It seems to me that many of the reas- 
ons given above will apply to it as well as to the paint. 
Poor material in the shape of varnish is poor indeed. 
X first-class article only will give first-class results. 

It must be elastic, or it will crack easily and badly, 
no matter how good the under coats of paint may be. 
Good varnish on good color coats will not give any 
Signs of cracking until, by repeated varnishings, ithaa 
accumulated a thick coating of brittle unelastic gum. 
No painter can say truthfully that 'his cars never 
crack, as it is a natural consequence of decay, and will 
come,' sooner or later, to the best of material. 

That varnish cracks to a great extent at right angles 
to the grain of the wood, I think is due, in some de- 
cree, to the same reasons as given above for the crack- 
ing of paint, and after its elasticity is destroyed by 



138 Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 

age. Vibration has a great effect upon the hard and 
brittle coating of gum that remains, coupled with ex- 
pansion and contraction caused by variations of tem- 
perature and the disintegrating influences of the 
weather. 

BRUSH CLEANING TROUGH. 

To make such a trough, take a piece of planed 
board, 6 inches wide and 18 inches long, and nail on 
side pieces 2 inches wide ; this makes the trough. 
Nail this trough on a bench, box, or table, and let one 
-end of it project over the edge of the bench, box or 
table, and place your slush bucket under the project- 
ing end of the trough. To clean a brush, lay it in the 
trough, keep hold of the handle with one hand and 
with the other take a dull scraper and press the paint 
out of the brush and shove it off into the slush-bucket. 
The advantage of this method is, that you clean the 
whole length of the brush and save the paint, instead 
of daubing it on the walls of your shop. 

FLOOR WAX. 

A good preparation for waxing floors may be 
obtained as follows : 

Yellow Wax 25 oa. 

Yellow Ceresin 25 " 

Burnt Sienna 5 '* 

Boiled Linseed Oil 1 •" 

Turpentine 1 gill 

Melt the wax and ceresin at a gentle heat, then add 
the sienna previously well triturated with the boiled 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. . 29 

linseed oil, and mix well. When the mixture begins 
to cool add the oil of turpentine, or so much of it as is 
required to make a mass of the consistence of an oint- 
ment. 

The burnt sienna may be used in smaller or larger 
quantity, according to the tint desired, or may be re- 
placed by raw sienna, &C. (From "American Druggist.") 

DAMAE VARNISH. 

Never use damar varnish over oil paint. 

Never put oil in damar varnish. See to it, that 
your dealer does not draw it in to an oil measure, and 
that you do not keep it in an oil}'^ or rancid can. 
Why ? Because, it is liable to dry tacky under any 
of the above conditions. 

STENCIL STAINING. 

Ordinary plain staining can be done by almost any 
one who can handle a common paint brush. Yet it is 
not generally known, even to skilled decorators, that 
stain, on sound white wood, evenly planed, can be 
applied to imitate the most intricate of artistic designs ; 
such, however, is the case. A decorator if asked to 
imitate in stain on white wood a piece of parquetry or 
inlaid wood, might reply that such a thing was impos- 
sible, alleging as a reason that by employing liquid 
stain in the same way as a distemper — that is to say, 
by the aid of a stencil to reproduce the pattern — the 
stain, as soon as it became absorbed would be found 
to "run/' and so giving to the pattern imitated an 



30 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

indistinct or blurred edge. Yet the most elaborate 
patterns are successfully stenciled direct on to pine, 
and the figured work on this wood has invariably come 
out distinctly and naturally as to be almost indistin- 
guishable from the inlaid work they have so success- 
fully sought to imitate. The great difficulty to be over- 
come in stenciling with stains is undoubtedly the 
''running," but with a very little care and patience this 
can be easily obviated. Say, a painter has d border to 
stain round an ordinary pine floor in imitation of a 
selected pattern of parquetr}^, the colors of which are 
generally in two or more shades of oak, the first thing 
he has to do after having properly prepared the floor — 
namely, making the part to be stained as smooth and 
as even as possible by filling up the crevieces and nail 
holes — is to stain over the work in the lightest shade 
shown in his pattern; this can be done by diluting 
the ordinary liquid oak stain with water to the desired 
tint. Next let him cut out of a piece of lining paper 
in the form of a stencil, the pattern he has to repro- 
duce on the floor, care being taken to oil the stencil in 
order to strengthen and preserve it. He should tben 
mix the stain into a stiff paste or to the consistency of 
a distemper used for ordinary stenciling ; place a. 
portion of this mixture on a smooth piece of wood, 
take up a very small quantity of it on a stencil brush 
and apply through the stencil plate in the same way he 
would a distemper. If a very dark shade is required 
apply more stain before removing the stencil plate. 

("The Decorator", London.) 



GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 31 

PAINTING BRICK. 

Objections : Chipping of the brick, and scaling of 
the paint. 

The chipping may be on account of defective brick 
or otherwise. 

Scaling may be caused by poor paint, or by damp- 
ness in the hrich. 

When called upon to paint on brick, first see if the 
brick is dry. See that there is no place where water 
leaks in from the roof or cornice and soaks into the 
brick. A brick wall may look dry and still be damp 
inside. If you want paint to stay on brick, give the 
brick time to dry, after heavy and driving rains. It 
is always a bad plan to paint brick in the fall, after 
the autumn rains. The only real safe time to paint a 
brick wall is in summer, after a spell of hot, dry 
weather. You can not always wait for that, but you 
can tell the owner that it is unsafe to paint a brick 
wall, until it has had time to dry. Why ? Because in 
winter the moisture, which is shut in by the paint will 
freeze, expand and throw off the paint, or chip the 
brick. 

Prime brick work with a thin coat of good 
paint mixed in pure linseed oil. Flow on the 
priming freel}^, and brush it well into the brick ; 
for second coat, whatever paint you use, put 
in at least one-fourh white lead ; make this 



33. Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

coat one-third turps, and rub it well out. Give it a 
good body. For the last coat, use your color regard- 
less of lead, unless you want it in to get your color. 
If you want a gloss, mix this coat with all boiled oil, 
and flow on. For flat, if your colors are ground in 
oil, use one-fourth oil and three-fourths turps, and if it 
don't show flat when painted, it will flat in a short 
time. The last coat may admit of more oil or may 
not take as much, and flat. This depends upon the 
work when started etc. Some painters make brick 
flating by breaking up the pigment in Japan, and elastic 
varnish for a binder, and thin with turps. I prefer 
the oil for a binder, and have made the last coat one- 
half oil, and had a nice flat in a few weeks. I always 
ridicule the idea of painting brick flat, because it will 
not stand as long as an oil finish, and the oil finish 
will be flat enough in a few months. 

CLEANING UP A ROOM. 

Now, if I were going to teach a kid to clean up a 
room, the first thing would be how to prepare himself 
for the job. In the first place, he wants a damp 
sponge with a string through it, to tie over his head, to 
hold the sponge over his mouth and under the nose to 
catch the dust, because it is a great deal more pleasant 
and a ''sight" more healthful to carry lime and other 
dust in a sponge than in nostrils and windpipe. Then 
he wants a cotton cloth cap, made large enough to 
draw down over his head and ears, bib overalls and 
jacket to button close about the neck, and he is well 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 33 

fixed. In such a rig he may look like a sea lion or 
< 'what-is-it, " but he had better look like the "Dickens 
on two sticks" than to skin his nostrils with nasty dust 
and fill his ears and hair with lime, sand and sawdust. 
For tools he needs a good, new, fine corn broom, a 
wide bristle sweeper, (a ten or twelve-inch paper- 
hanger's smoothing brush will do), a good duster, 
a sharp tool to pick out the corners, a two-inch 
chiseled brush for corners. A sprinkler only turns 
dust to mud, to dry in a few hours and become 
dust again. When you have swept the floor with your 
broom and dusted your woodwork and gone over the 
floor carefully with your wide bristle brush to take 
what you brushed from the casings and what the broom 
left on the floor, look at the air across this ray of 
sunlight ; it is full of dust, soon the most of it 
will settle on the floor and casings and window stools. 
What then ? Wait till it settles and wipe it off with a 
cloth and don't forget the tops of the doors and casings. 
<'Why use a cloth ?" Well, if you go in and begin to 
use a dust brush after the dust settles you throw a 
portion of it in the air again and it will settle on the 
work. And by the way, I want to say that a wiping 
cloth is a very important article for a painter to carry. 
It always makes me ' 'red hot" to see a painter (?), after 
he has daubed a key shield or a hinge, try to wipe it off 
with his thumb; I could forgive him for the daub ; the 
best man in the trade may sometimes do that, but the 
man who will rub part of it off with his thumb and let 
the rest dry ought to be sent off th« job or suspended 



34 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

long enough to take a lesson in the art of wiping off 
daubs. 

I want to say further that every well-regulated 
dusting kit ought to have a dust pan hitched to it in 
some way. It will save sweeping the dust out on the 
steps to be tracked in again, save the time you would 
Jose in sweeping the dust over threshholds, or save the 
time it would take to borrow one, especially if the 
kid, you send, stops an hour to chat with the kitchen 
maid, or to capture and devour a "hunk" of cold pie. 
My kid suggests that I should to remember that most of 
the finishing is done nowadays while the carpenters are 
working in the next room, and that if we get the dust 
and shavings in a pile in the middle of the room we do 
well. Well, perhaps the kid knows. 




Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 35 



PASTE FOR LABELING ON TIN. 

Make a stiff flour paste in the usual way, with floui 
wid water, then add 2 ounces tartaric acid, and 1 pint 
ot molasses ; boil the mixture until stiff, and put in 
ten or fifteen drops carbolic acid. 

ANOTHER. 

Wheat flour, 1 pound 

Alum, 2 drams 

Borax, 2 *' 

Hydrochloric acid, 1| ounces 

Mix the flour, alum and borax in the usual way, to 
a smooth paste in water, then add the acid and cook 
.n the usual way with hot water. 

TO MAKE TENTS &C. WEATHERPROOF. 

To prevent tents, wagon covers &c. from rotting 
li^olve 4 ounces sulphate of zinc in 10 gallons of 
iv^ater, then put in one-fourth pound sal-soda, stir well 
aj:.til dissolved and add one-fourth ounce tartaric acid, 
tet the cloth lie in this one day and night and hang up 
5c dry. Don't wring it. 

TO PAINT ON CANVAS OR MTTSLIN WITHOUT SIZING. 

First stretch, then wet the cloth. Wipe off the 
■drops and letter while the cloth is damp with color 
mixed with japan and turps. 



36 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting, 

TO PAINT ON ZINC. 

A difficulty is often experienced in causing oil 
colors to adhere to sheet zinc. Boettger recommends 
the employment of a mordant, so to speak, of the 
following composition : 1 part of chloride of copper, 
1 of nitrate of copper, and 1 of sal-ammoniac are to be 
dissolved in 64 parts of water, to which solution is to 
be added 1 part of commercial hydrochloric acid. The 
sheets of zinc are to be brushed over with this liquid^ 
which gives them a deep black color ; in the course of 
12 to 24 hours they become dry, and to their now dirty 
gray surface a coat of any oil color will firmly adhere. 
Some sheets of zinc prepared in this way, and after- 
wards painted, have been found to withstand all the 
changes of winter and summer. 

PAINTING BLINDS. 

When painting a blind never turn it upon edge 
when cutting in the inside of the rail, because the 
paint will be likely to run into the pivot-holes and 
stick the slats. When you set a blind up to dry, set 
the bottom end up, and be sure to have the slats lie 
flat side up. Why ? Because the bottom end of the 
blind when hung is more apt to drag on the window 
sill than the top end is to touch the jam above. If 
set bottom end up, that end will dry solid, and if 
there are any sags it will be at the top. Keep the 
slats flat side up to avoid " .t edges. 

TREATMENT FOR HARD WOOD FLOORS. 

First see that the floor is clean and smooth ; then 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 37 

give it a coat of best oil, with Japan sufficient to make 
it dry ; cut the Japan in turps. Then put on a good 
mineral paste, filler in the usual way by rubbing the 
filler well into the wood ; then clean off all the surplus. 
When dry, sandpaper and putt}^ up well with colored, 
hard putty, and put on a coat of shellac ; if too glossy, 
rub down with powdered pumice and oil. Be careful 
to have the putty match the floor. 

WHITEWASH FOR OUTSIDE WORK. 

Take one-half pound of fresh burnt lime. Dip it 
in water and let it slack in the open air. Melt two 
ounces of bagundy pitch by gentle heat, in six ounces 
of linseed oil ; then add two quarts of skim-milk 
while the lime is hot, add the mixture of pitch and oil, 
a little at a time while hot, and stir it in; then add 
three pounds of bolted whiting and stir. Add more 
milk if too thick for the brush. 

THE STRAINER. 

Don't forget to use the strainer. After you have 
put in your best licks to clean up and sandpaper a job, 
it is the height of folly to daub it up with paint full of 
fikins and specks. Oil paint is liable to be ' 'skinny" 
in the keg. Miller's bolting cloth makes a good 
strainer, and common cheese cloth at five cents a yard 
does very well for ordinary purposes. 

TO KILL GREASE SPOTS ON WOOD. 

Use a wash of saltpeter or a thin lime wash, then 



38 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

rinse with clear water. Treat blacksmiths smoke in 
the same way. 

KALSOMINE. 

To please an old friend I give the following recipe 
for kalsomine. He says, it is good. I never used it, 
BO you will have to take his word for it. 

15 pounds good Paris white, mixed up in luke- 
warm water, add one-fourth pound good glue, dissolved 
in the usual way, strain through a fine sieve, then dis- 
solve one-fourth pound white hard soap in hot water, 
and one-half pound of alum in cold water and mix. 
Add water to give the right consistency for putting it 
on the wall. 

TO TAKE OFF THE PAINT. 

If you have an old, roughly painted door to cut 
down for a fine job, don't fool away your time, and 
fill your nose with dust, trying to do it with dry sand- 
paper, but take the door off the hinges, lay it flat on 
horses, and keep the surface under your sandpaper wet 
with benzine, and you can do in an hour what would 
otherwise take half a day. The benzine softens the 
paint, and keeps the paper from gumming up. If it is 
not practicable to take the door off the hinges, put 
your benzine in a small spring-bottomed oil can and 
squirt it on the work as needed to keep the paper clear 
of paint and make it cut fast. Wipe off the loose paint 
with rags. It works equally well on old varnish. Try 
it once on an old carriage body. 

If the old paint is extra hard use a mixture in 
equal parts, of benzine and ammonia. 



Urinnell's Hand Jiook on Painting. 39 

CLEANING SILVER, BRASS OR COPPER. 

In the course of our work we often meet with 
tarnished metal ornaments, which must be cleaned to 
make our work look well. 

This preparation is a good one : 

Paris white (iine), 1 pound 

Carb. magnesia, 2 drams 

Cyanuret pottash, 7 " 

Sulph. ether, 3 '* 

Crocus martis, 1 " 

Soft water, 1^ ounces or suf- 
ficient to make a stiff paste. 

Mix by rubbing, add the Paris white last, then stir 
into the water. Apply with a rag or sponge, and rub 
dry and polish with a rag or canton flannel. 

WHY DO WALL PAPERS CRACK? 

Some papers are more inclined to crack than others, 
because the}'' are made of more brittle material. When 
selecting a paper for a white washed wall, or ceiling 
take a pattern which feels soft and pliable. Papers 
which crackle or rattle, when crumpled in the hand are 
liable to crack. Papers which stretch or expand the 
most when wet are the most apt to crack; because when 
they dry, and shrink the pull is so great that the fibers 
give awa}^, if great care is not taken in putting it on . 
Cracking may be the fault of the paper hanger. He 
may use his paste to thick, or too thin, or put on too 
much, or too little. Paste should be put on even and 
of the proper consistency, and thickness to cement the 
paper to the walls. Paper is more liable to crack on 



40 Grinneirs Hand Book on Fainting. 

rough and uneven walls. On a smooth wall, if pro- 
perly put on, it becomes, as it dries, so fastened to the 
plaster, that it cannot contract enough to break the 
fibers, but on a rough and uneven wall there are apt 
to be loose places, where the air gets in. and the con- 
traction of the paper so weakens the fibers that it 
cracks. 

Now, if the paper hanger will be careful to secure 
the paper uniformly by using sufficient paste on rough 
places to hold the paper, and be careful to brush or 
pound the paper down firmly, he will greatly reduce the 
chances of cracking. A roller can not be depended 
upon for a rough wall. Too much or not enough sizing 
on a wall may be a cause of cracking. Hot paste, 
which thickens as it cools, is not safe to use on such 
walls, because it may appear just right when hot, but 
will be too thick when cool and cause the paper to 
crack. 

OIL SIZE FOR WHITE WASH. 

Oil size is good to use on a whitewashed ceiling be- 
fore papering, if you don't over do it. A friend of 
mine thought, if a little was good, a great deal would 
be better ; so he gave his ceiling two flowing coats of 
clear oil, and when dry put on his paper, but it did not 
stay. Why ? Because he put on so much oil that he 
made a glossy surface and the gloss could not hold the 
paste. An oil size on white wash is all right if used 
right. It is a mistake to use clear oil ; 1 pint of oil, 
1 pint japan and 1 quart turpentine is better, because 
it will penetrate further, dry faster, flat the surface, and 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 41 

have suflScient binding power to hold the white wash 
from coming off. Don't size a wall with paste. Paste 
and white wash don't go well together. The fact that 
you have to size your wall to make paper stick proves 
this. 



Oil size should dry hard before the paper is put on. 

I find glutol, manufactured by the Arabol Manu- 
facturing Co., No. 13 Gold Street, New York, a first- 
class substitute for glue in wall size and kalsomine, 
and prefer it to glue, because it will not attract flies, 
nor spoil by standing in hot weather, and can be mixed 
in cold water. 

TO CLEAN BRICK. 

The white powder which comes on brick can be re- 
moved by sponging with a mixture of muriatic acid 
and water, equal parts. Wash the brick in clear water 
and let them become well dried before painting. 

TO CLEAN TARNISHED ZINC. • 

Mix 1 part sulphuric acid with 12 parts water and 
rub the zinc with it with a rag, then rinse with clear 
water. 

TO GILD ON WOOD. 

First get a good body and a smooth surface. The 
work should be flat with three coats at least on wood, 
and not less than two on iron or tin. The best size for 
outside work is oil gold size (fat oil), mixed with 
a little medium chrome yellow toned down with white 
lead; put in a very little japan gold size, and thin to 



42 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

workable consistency with turps ; let it stand until 
tacky. It must be hard enough to prevent rubbing up 
or sweating. The method, with the tip, gold knife and 
cushion requires considerable dexterity as well as 
practice to do good and rapid work. The tip, or lifter, 
is only a few camel hairs glued between two pieces of 
pjiste board, or other material. The knife is a long 
narrow flexible blade, and the cushion is made on a 
block, 6 by 8 inches, first covered with a thickness or 
two of woolen cloth, and finished by stretching a piece 
of shamois skin over it. Hold the gold book in the 
left hand, and turn back a leaf of the book, leaving 
the gold exposed on the next leaf, press the leaf of 
gold against the cushion and it will remain. Then 
straighten out wrinkles by a slight puff of the breath 
from above, cut the leaf into the required size with the 
gold-knife, and lift the leaf to its place with the tip. 
The tip will lift the gold better if ocasionally drawn 
over the hair of your head. 

Another way to prepare the leaf. Cut the book 
through at the binding with a sharp knife, which will 
leave all the leaves free and separate. Now take up 
the top paper or cover, which will leave the gold leaf 
•on the book, lay the paper on a board, and rub it 
over with a piece of wax, paraffine candle, or a piece 
of hard soap ; either will do. Place the waxed side 
oii to the gold, and smooth the paper down gently; 
repeat until 3^0 u have as many leaves prepared as you 
need. Then, with good sharp shears cut them in such 
shape and size as will best cover your work, and not 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 4a 

waste the gold. Lay the pieces on your board, gold 
side up. When ready, lay the pieces on the work, rub 
down with the fingers, or a ball of cotton, take off the 
paper and the gold will stay on the size. In this way 
the gold adheres quite firmly to the waxed paper, and 
the sv.e must have a strong tack to take the gold ofl^ 
the paper Experts lay the leaf directly from the book, 
and you had best learn to do it that way for general 
work, if you spoil half a dozen books while catching 
on to the knack of it. Try it this way. Now, here i& 
a stripe half an inch wide, and the size is ready for the 
gold. Now hold the book fiat in your left hand with 
your thumb on top, hold the top paper firm with your 
thumb. (If you let it slip, the leaf under it will be 
spoiled). If the stripe is one-half inch wide, turn back 
enough of the paper to expose three-fourths inch of 
the gold leaf, crease the turned back cover down with 
the fingers of the right hand, and hold it with the 
thumb on the back. Now cut the leaf with the finger- 
nail, first rubbing it dry on your pcints ; then turn the 
book carefully and quickly over on to the stripe, and 
press the gold down gently by pressing the book. 
Then turn down more of the paper, and repeat until 
that leaf is gone ; then take another and so on . If the 
book gets too limber towards the last to handle well, 
have a square of cardboard to lay under the book next 
to the hand; you will find, this is a help, even with a 
full book You will, perhaps, waste more gold in this 
way, than bj- the transfer method, but you will more 
than make it up in time, if you become expert. 



44 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

SUMMARY. 

1st. Be sure of a good foundation. 

2d. Have joxxr gold size right, and study to know 
when the tackiness is just right. If jour surface is not 
perfectly free from tackiness, pounce with a bag of 
gilders' whiting before putting on the size, to keep the 
gold from sticking outside the of size. 

When you lay leaf from the book and cut the leaf 
with your finger nail, turn the ball of the finger toward 
you and the nail towards the gold, and run the nail 
close to the edge of the turned paper; then, if the nail 
is not too long, the end of the finger will hold down 
the paper while the nail cuts the leaf. 

To prepare paper for the transfer method, I rub 
the paper on my hair, then la}^ it on the gold leaf, 
gently rub it with my finger tips, and the leaf adheres 
to the paper. 

It can than be cut with shears in any desired shape 
to cover the work. 

Some gold leaf is now packed in paper so prepared 
that the leaf will adhere to one side of it and can be 
taken up in that way. • 

Some gilders take up the leaf by wetting the paper 
on the back with turpentine to make the leaf adhere to 
the other side, when it can be cut to the required shape 
with shears. This is done instead of waxing the paper. 

STIE YOUR PAINT. 
BY V. B. GRINNELL. 

It isn't always your material that makes a bad job, 
but it seems an easy matter to make even the best of 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 45 

paint the scape-goat for bad work. The heedless work- 
man who primes a plastered wall without sweeping 
down the loose sand, or is careless about taking the 
sand and dust from the tops of casings and the floors, 
will if he stops to examine, find some in the brush, 
and some of it in his paint pot, and then to cover up 
his carelessness he can lay the blame on the paint. The 
careful painter will when using heavy pigments carry 
a paddle, and not neglect to use it. To prevent white 
lead and other heavy pigments from settling in the pot 
the paint must be well mixed, and kept mixed by 
stirring with a paddle as often and as much as may be 
necessary to keep the oil or other vehicle, and the pig- 
ment well incorporated. No one but a novice, or a care- 
less painter will permit a sediment to accumulate in the 
bottom of his pot ; no matter whether the pigment is 
coarse or fine ; or whether the vehicle used is linseed 
oil, turpentine or benzine. The painter who goes to 
work without a stirring paddle in his pot will be liable 
to do uneven work, and find more or less sediment in 
the bottom of his paint pot at quitting time ; because 
there is no white lead made which does not contain 
more, or less particles sufficiently heavy to commence 
settling the minute the paddle stops, and go to 
the bottom of a pot of flatting, as ordinarily mixed, 
inside of thirty minutes, and other particles of smaller 
size will follow later. If the pigment is mixed with 
oil the process of settling is slower, but no less sure 
to take place, and continue, if undisturbed, until clear 
oil stands on top of the pigment. Don't try to use 



46 Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 

your brush for a paddle, it isn't a good tool to stir 
paint from the bottom. Paint made of heavy pigment 
must be frequently stirred with a paddle to keep it 
of uniform consistency, but this operation is too often 
neglected. For instance, a man starts out with a full 
pot in the morning, and neglects to stir his paint as he 
works, hence the heavier particles commence to settle 
and soon get below the dip of the brush, and by con- 
tinual settling keep out of the reach of it until they 
reach the bottom. When the paint is nearly all out, 
and the sediment at the bottom don't work well, he 
refills his pot leaving in the coarse pigment. At night 
the boss finds an inch or less of coarse paint in the 
bottom of the pot, and without further inquiry com- 
plains that the lead is sandy. 

Another instance. The paint for a job stands mixed 
over night, the painters fill their pots from time to time 
during the day, but never stir the paint from the bot- 
tom, hence the last pot or two filled will have all the 
coarse pigment of the batch. There are cases, I admit, 
(to many of them) where not only white lead but dry 
colors and colors in oil, are too coarse to work well^ 
but the best white lead and heavy colored pigments in 
oil or turpentine are liable to be called sandy unless 
frequently stirred by the painter. 

(From "The Western Painter".) 
TO MAKE CHERRY STAIN. 

Take annotto, 4 ounces, and clean rain water, 3 
quarts. Boil in a brass or copper kettle, new tin or 
galvanized iron will do, until the color of the annotto is 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 47 

imparted to the water ; then add ^ ounce potash, and 
keep the mixture hot for 30 minutes ; then, as soon as 
cool enough to handle, it is ready for use. Now, have 
the work free from dust, and spread on your stain with 
a brush or sponge and rub it well into the wood. 

When the work is dry, rub lightly with fine sand- 
paper, because the water stain will raise the grain 
unless the wood has been filled. 

You can suit the taste of the owner as to depth 
of color by repeating the operation, or by making the 
stain weaker or stronger, as the case may require. 

VARNISH STAINS. 

These often come very handy to the painter, not 
only in toning up new wood, but in renewing the 
freshness of old work. 

MAHOGANY VARNISH STAIN. 

Spirits 1 gallon, . gum sandarac 1 pound, shellac 
•J pound, Venice turpentine 2 ounces, dragons blood 
4 ounces. 

WALNUT VARNISH STAIN. 

Shellac 1| pounds, spirit 1 gallon, Bismarck brown 
1 ounce, nigrosine ^ ounce. You can, by varying the 
proportions of the two colors, make the shade as you 
like it. 

(Spirit in this connection means either wood or 
grain alcohol.) 

MAHOGANY VARNISH STAIN. 

Spirits "• gallon, shellac 1^ pounds, Bismarck brown 
R ^ ounce, nigrosine 30 grains. More nigrosine will 



48 Urinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

make the stain darker. If this is too thick to work 
well, thin with spirits. 

TO MAKE NEW OAK LOOK OLD. 

Sponge it with a strong hot solution of common soda 
in water. This will raise the grain, hence, it will 
require cutting down with sandpaper. 

DARK STAIN FOR OAK. 

Make a solution of bi-chromate of potash, 1|- ozs. 
to 2 quarts soft water. Lay on the solution with a 
good clean sponge and keep the wood wet with the 
solution until it is dark enough to please you. Then 
wash off the potash with clean soft water. 

ANOTHER. 

Apply with a brush, strong aqua ammonia, until 
you get the desired shade. 

RED SAUNDERS STAIN. 

Fill a bottle -^ full of red saunders, then fill the 
bottle with either wood or grain alcohol. The more 
red saunders you put in, the stronger will be the stain ; 
you can dilute it for the lighter shades. The longer 
it stands, the more color will be extracted. Always 
strain through muslin, before using. 

Ked saunders makes a good cherry stain. When 
used on the bare wood it requires no binder, but when 
used over filled or oiled wood, put in one-fourth as 
much shellac varnish as you have stain, to act as a 
binder for it. If you want it to act as a filler as well 
as a stain, for pine or other close grained woods, add 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 49 

1^ pounds corn starch, to each gallon of the mixture 
of stain and shellac. Try a little, and if it rubs up 
■when dry, add more shellac. 

You can mix red saunders stain with asphaltum 
varnish, to make black walnut and mahogany stains ; 
using more or less of either to give the desired shade ; 
by using turpentine to make them mix. The asphal- 
tum acts as a binder in place of the shellac. 

The practical painter can get the shades he wants, 
by experimenting on this line. 

TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF WALNUT TO DARK 
MAHOGANY. 

First give it a coat of very thin asphaltum varnish, 
then, when dry, give it a coat of red saunders and 
shellac. 

You can mix the red saunders and asphaltum stain 
with any turpentine varnish, or with spirit varnish, if 
you use turpentine to make them mix. 

Burnt umber and burnt sienna in oil or varnish, 
make a walnut stain. Use but little of the pigments 
in proportion to the oil. To much pigment gives the 
■work a muddy color. 

NATURAL WOOD FINISHING. 

Clean up all soiled places on the wood. To be sure 
of a good job on open grained wood, use a Bliss Rock 
Wood Filler. If you use a ready made filler, thin as 
per directions on the can. Whatever filler you use, put 
it on with a good brush. As soon as the filler beo:in3 



50 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

to set, or show flat, commence to rub it into the graio 
with a pad made by gluing a piece of harness leather 
onto a block ; always when practicable rub across the 
grain of the wood. For round work have a long piece 
of leather to draw back find forth around the work- 
Remember the main thing at this stage, is to get as. 
much of the filler as possible rubbed into the wood. 

Another important point is to take ofli the surplus 
filler before it becomes too hard to wipe off ; and another 
point is to wipe off the surplus filler, and leave the 
pores of the wood level full. Hence, it is important 
that the filler does not dry too fast, that the painter 
puts on no more filler at a time than he can handle 
before it dries, and that in wiping off the surplus filler 
he works his rags across the grain. Some very open 
grained wood requires a second application of filler to» 
make a good job, or at least to be looked over and 
touched up. The filler should have at least two days 
to dry. When dry go over it lightly with fine sand- 
paper to take off all particles of filler left on the sur- 
face. 

Walnut, mahogany, chesnut, oak, ash and butter- 
nut may be classed as open grained woods, which need 
to be well filled with paste filler colored to match the- 
color of the wood. When the filler is dry put on a coat 
or two of white shellac and rub down smooth with No. 1 
sandpaper, and follow with two or more coats of hard 
oil or varnish as you like ; give each coat plenty of 
time to dry, and rub each coat with curled hair or hair 
cloth, except the last coat. If you want an egg shell 



GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 51 

■ov half gloss, rub the last coat with pulverized pumice 
stone and raw linseed oil. If you want a dead finish 
rub down with pulverized pumice stone and water in- 
stead of oil. If you want a polish, first rub with the 
pumice stone and water ; then with rotten stone and 
water, and polish with rotten stone and oil, or furniture 
polish and rotten stone. If you want a gloss finish, 
flow on the last coat and omit rubbing. Treat the close 
grained woods as above stated, with the exception of 
the filler. The shellac also may be omitted, but it will 
take at least one more coat of hard-oil or varnish for 
the job. 

Cherry, sycamore, maple, birch, gum wood, red- 
wood, cypress, pine, white wood, poplar and hemlock 
are all close grained woods, and need no paste filler. 
Pine especially should have a coat of shellac to keep 
back the pitch. 

For an extra fine job of gloss finish, rub next to the 
last coat with pumice stone and water, flow on a 
<}oat of good varnish, and leave it in the gloss. In this 
case great care is required in cleaning the work to keep 
it from showing specks. 

It stands the beginner in hand to be careful and 
not use his shellac too heavy to work well; shellac has 
^ood body and an apparently very thin coat will be a 
g;ood heavy one. 

To do a fine job the room and work must be clean 
the clothing free from dust, and the work, brushes 
and varnish free from specks. If specks show on your 
gjoss coat call a halt, and find where they come from. 



52 Grinnell's Hand Book oH Painting. 

Soft cotton rags are the best material for wiping^ 
off surplus filler. 

A felt pad of convenient size to handle, is the best 
for rubbing work. Get one at the furniture shop. For 
a cheap job omit the water rubbing, and rub with 
pumice stone and raw oil. 

TO MAKE BLEACHED OR WHITE SHELLAC VARNISH. 

Take powdered white shellac 1^ pounds, best grain 
alcohol 1 gallon. Add the gum to the alcohol, set 
it in a warm place and shake your jug or bottle 
occasionally. Don't put it in tin or iron, either of 
them will discolor it. You can hasten the process by 
setting your jug in a sand or water bath, and gently 
heating it; or set it by the stove, or in the sunshine^ 

To make the common orange shellac of commerce,, 
dissolve H pounds orange shellac in 1 gallon methy- 
lated spirit or grain alcohol This will dry in ten or 
fifteen minutes, and makes a hard lusterous varnish 
when dry, and stands the weather better then most gum 
varnishes. It makes a turbid liquid of orange brown 
hue and dries rather a pale brown. For use on dark 
wood this is equal to the white shellac, if not superior. 

TO COLOR PUTTY. 

There is no use in trying to color common putty to 
match the color of natural wood. The whiting in it 
will not take clear tints. Use lead putty which you 
can tint with raw sienna for pine, yellow ochre for oak, 
burnt umber and burnt sienna for walnut, and burnt 



Grinueirs Hand Book on Painting. 53 

sienna for mahogany. Better have the putty too light 
than too dark. 

SPOTS ON PAINT. 

Poor lumber and thin painting are often tlee cause 
of spots on paint, especially on two coat work. On 
cross grained and other extra porous places more of 
the oil sinks in to the wood than on the general sur- 
face, and the result is flat places in the paint, which 
fade sooner than the glossy paint ; hence, the work looks 
spotted. 

To provide against this kind of spotting use more 
care in priming and see that all extra porous places are 
well filled with the prime coat, or touch them up before 
the second coat goes on. A little extra work with the 
brush when putting on the prime will save trouble. 

Another cause may be traced to the practice of 
putting on a coarse dark priming coat, which will show 
through in places where the paint is thinnest. 

Mildew, or fungus growth, is annother cause. This 
sometimes comes from the use of too much japan, poor 
or fat oil, or when the paint dries tacky or soft. 

Adulteration of linseed oil with mineral and other 
non-drying oils, has a tendency to make paint dry soft. 
Linseed oil, kept for a few days in an old sour tank or 
in an old rancid can in the paint-shop, is liable to cause 
fermentation to take place, which may result in mildew 
in damp weather in shaded places. 

When an oil can smells sour or there is a deposit 
of foots at the bottom, it is unfit to keep oil in. 



14 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting, 

Another cause of spotting may be found in in- 
sufficient and improper brushing or spreading the paint ; 
cxpeciall}^ the priming, which requires as much care in 
putting on as any other coat on the job. 

For instance, here is a job wich shows "laps". 
Now, if this prime is right when it is put on single, it 

15 wrong when it is put on double, because, where the 
laps are, the work has at least one more coat than 
the balance of the job, hence, the paint is liable to 
fade spotted. 

PORCELAIN FINISH. CHINA GLOSS. GLOSS FINISH. 

All different names for about the same thing. To 
make a fine job : If the work is new, see that it is 
smooth, free from dust and stains. Then give it a 
coat of priming, put on thin, so as not to show 
brush marks, and rub down with No. sandpaper. 
Next, get a good body with keg lead, mixed in turpen- 
tine and a very little linseed oil ; put on thin 
coats, so as not to show brush marks ; use a fitch 
brush, or at least a fine bristle chiseled brush . When 
dry, rub down with sandpaper and flow on a coat of 
thin white shellac. This is to keep back the oil in the 
lead coats, and prevent chemical action between the 
lead and zinc coats. Next, put on two or more coats 
of French zinc ground in damar varnish; enough at 
least, to get a clear white. Thin with turps and a 
little damar varnish, and put on^thin enough to show 
no laps or brush marks. 

Then put on a coat or two of French zinc ground in 



Giinnell's Hand Book on Painting. &a 

damar varnish, thinned with 1 part damar varnish and 
2 parts turpentine. Next put on a coat of damai 
varnish mixed with a little zinc ground in damar, jusi 
enough to make the varnish white. Flow on a coat, 
and be careful that it does not run on your work. To 
avoid runs always commence at the top of a panel with 
a full brush and work down so as not to have a surplus 
in the lower corners of the panels ; this applies to all 
parts of the work. It is quite a knack to put on a full 
coat of this varnish and zinc, and not have it run. 

In all cases put on enough zinc coats to make a 
clear white before you put on the varnish. The small 
quantity of zinc is put in the varnish to take off the 
yellow tinge, and to keep it from turning yellow. Use 
lead putty. See receipes to make it on another page. 

ANOTHER WAY. 
BY MR. MILES OF ANN AKBOR, MICH. 

Very hard and white, for parlors. — To prepare 
the wood for the finish, if it be pine, give one or two 
coats of the <' Varnish — Transparent for wood," which 
prevents the pitch from oozing out causing the finish 
to turn yellow ; next, give the room, at least, four 
coats of pure zinc, which may be ground in only 
suflScient oil to enable it to grind properly, thei mix 
to a proper consistency with turpentine or naptha. 
Give each coat time to dry. When it is dry and hard, 
sandpaper it to a pertectiy smooth surface, when it is 
ready to receivi^ the finish, which consists of two coats 
of French zinc ground in, and thinner with damar 
varnish, until it works properly under the brush. 



56 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. ^ _ 

LEAD POISONING. — HOW TO AVOID IT. 

White lead may enter the human system in three 
ways : To-wit : — Through the stomach, the lungs and 
skin. In other words, it may be eaten, inhaled or 
absorbed, hence, the stomach, lungs and skin should 
each be carefully guarded against it. To guard the 
stomach through which you are in the most danger of 
taking in the poison, make it a rule to keep the 
mouth closed as much as possible when using white 
lead, and especially when sandpapering. Make it a 
rule to never eat or drink without first carefully 
cleansing yoiir lips, and carefully removing the paint 
from your hands before eating. Tobacco chewers, who 
carry tobacco in their pockets, are in especial danger 
of lead poison, if working in paint, because the tobacco 
becomes more or less poisoned with lead from the 
fingers, if the painter is not careful to clean his hands 
before taking a chew. There is no great danger from 
inhaling white lead, except when sandpapering, or 
when dusting after sandpapering. 

It is a pretty good thing to carefully guard the 
nose with a damp sponge while sandpapering, and to 
carefully free the nostrils from lead. There is no 
danger of poisoning by absorbtion through the skin, 
unless the painter is careless. When I see some men 
at work, I wonder how they can possibly escape lead 
poisoning. Their clothing glazed with oil paint, their 
hands daubed to the wrist by grasping the brush by 
the head, instead of by the handle ; or by general 
carelessness in mixing and handling paints. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 6T 

SYMPTOMS OP LEAD POISON. 

Tired feeling, wakefulness at night, neuralgic 
pains, < 'shaky" hands, constipated bowels, bad taste- 
in the mouth, and pain in the bowels, a blue edge on 
the gums, and a coated tongue. If you get the colic, 
see a doctor ; for the other symptons, get away from, 
paint for a while if possible, and take the following : 
Iodide of potash ^ oz., sirup sarsaparilla 8 oz. 
Dose : — Teaspoon full three or four times a day im 
half a cup of milk. Eat graham mush and drink 
milk. 

TO FINISH FURNITURE AND OTHER WORK IN SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY OAK. 

First fill the wood with any good filler. Fill it 
well, then take Yandj^ke brown 3 parts, and burnt 
sienna 1 part, and mix to a stiff paste with boiled oil 
and Japan, and thin with turpentine, until you cau 
brush it on the wood, and not have it look dauby or 
muddy. Give the work a light coat, and brush it out 
well and carefully. Too much pigment will make 
your work too dark. Wherever you want the light or 
worn spots to appear, wipe off the stain with a cloth,, 
and with a badger blender carefully blend the staiu 
into the edges of the worn or light spots. Don't stain 
too much at once, for fear your stain may set so you 
can not wipe out and blend. When the stain is dry, 
sandpaper lightly with No. paper. Finish with twa 
coats rubbing varnish, or with hard oil finish. Polish 
with rotten stone and raw oil. 



Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 
A SUPERIOR GLUE (WATERPROOF). 

A very superior article may be made by dissolving 
3 parts of India rubber in 30 parts of naptha ; heat 
and agitation will be required to effect the solution ; 
when the rubber is completely dissolved, add 64 parts 
of finely-powdered shellac, which must also be heated 
in the above mixture until all is dissolved. This 
mixture may be produced in sheets like glue by pouring 
it while hot upon plates of metal, where it will harden. 
When required for use it may simply be heated in a 
pot till soft. Two pieces of wood or leather, joined to- 
gether with this glue, can scarcely be sundered without 
& fracture of the parts. 

A VALUABLE CEMENT. 

We will find the following recipe good : The 
-compound of glycerin, oxide of lead, and red lead, for 
mending cast-iron that has been fractured with the 
happiest results. It takes some little time to dry, but 
turns almost as hard as stone, and is fire and water- 
proof. For mending cracks in stone or cast-iron ware, 
ivhere iron filling cannot be had, we think it is invalu- 
able. Take litharge and red lead, equal parts, mix 
thoroughly and make into a paste with concentrated 
glycerin to the consistency of soft putty, fill the crack 
and smear a thin layer on both sides of the casting so 
as to completely cover the fracture. This layer can 
be rubbed off if necessary when nearly dry by an old 
knife or chisel. 



GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 59- 

paint burner, being careful not to melt the solder or 
Bet fire to the roof boards. 

LINESEED OIL, RED LEAD, AND IRON RUST. 
BY V. B. GEINNELIi. 

The oleaginous principle of linseed oil is said to be- 
m the nature of neutral salts called linolein, consisting, 
of linoleic acid combined with a glycerine base. Lino- 
kin is said by some writers to constitute three-fourths^ 
of the volume of linseed oil, and that the drying pro- 
perties of the oil reside in the acid principle of the 
linolien ; that is, linoleic acid has the property of at-^ 
tracting and combining with oxygen to form the sub- 
stance known as dry linseed oil. This acid is said to- 
be a compound of several different acid principles, 
combined in definite proportions. Writers seem to. 
disagree as to what the acids are, and in what respect 
they differ from the acid properties of the non-drying 
fixed oils, but that is a question which need not be- 
discussed here. The glycerine base of linolein seems- 
to be common to all fixed oils, and is set down as an 
oxide consisting of one equivalent of water and five 
of oxygen ; hence the affinity between the linoleic acid 
and its glycerine base. 

Linoleic acid, like other acids, has an affinity for 
alkalies and the ordinary metallic oxides. It unites 
with them forming neutral compounds. This affinity 
is said to be electrical ; the alkalies and oxides, electro 
positive, and the acid, electro negative. The greater 
the contrast in this respect, the stronger the affinity;. 



'60 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

hence, some acids separate others from their base and 
form new salts by precipitation. As an instance : 

Drop sulphuric acid into a solution of acetate of 
lead. It will displace the acetic acid, form sulphate 
of lead and precipitate leaving the liberated acetic acid 
in solution. In linolein, this acid is so constituted 
that the affinity, or attraction between it and its gly- 
cerine base, is too feeble to resist and keep back the 
oxygen of the air ; hence, when linseed oil is exposed 
to the air in a thin layer, oxygen unites with its linoleic 
acid, and this process continues until the oil becomes 
dry to the touch. Beyond this point the process is 
slower, because the oil is now less penetrable ; but the 
process goes on until the layer of oil becomes hard and 
brittle, no matter with what pigment it may be mixed, 
although the pigment may for a time retard the action 
of the destroying elements. 

Linseed oil dries too slowly for general use by the 
painter, hence, various ways have been devised to 
hasten the drying process. If the foregoing theory is 
correct, the process which will cause the oil to dry to 
a good wearing body in the time desired, and leave it 
in the best condition to resist the action of the elements 
and the absorption of oxygen is the best. I regard 
the lead oxides as the best dryers for this purpose — 
at least according to my experience. When we add an 
oxide to linseed oil as a dryer in the small quantity 
which experience has taught us is best to use, it is 
evident that it is not sufficient in itself to oxidize the 
whole of the oil to any appreciable extent. Writers 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 61 

differ as to the peculiar action of the oxides upon the 
oil, but I think it safe to say that the dryer sets up 
some chemical reaction which increases the affinity be- 
tween the linolein and the oxygen of the atmosphere ; 
at any rate there is no dispute upon the point that lin- 
seed oil in drying absorbs a large per cent of oxygen. 
A knowledge of this unanimously conceded point 
led me to believe that a coat of pure linseed oil might 
make the best possible priming coat for iron work 
which had commenced to rust. Why ? Because iron 
rust is an oxide of iron, having an excess of oxygen ; 
and because linseed oil is a great absorbent of oxygen. 
Spread on rusty iron, it penetrates the rust, absorbs 
its excess of oxygen and dries with the remaining 
neutral oxide held fast in its body. This is my theory; 
whether correct or not, numerous tests have proved 
to me that a coat of linseed oil will stop the rusting of 
iron if applied under proper conditions. When rust is 
thick or scaling there is no safety short of taking it off. 
Iron rust is more or less hydrated ; to free it from 
moisture, give it the flame of the gasoline paint burner. 



63 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

I USE > > > > J 

I BLISS ROCK PAINT. f 

WHITE ENAMEL (SELECTED). 

First the wood is primed with a composition con- 
sisting of three parts of turpertine and one part of oil, 
japan gold size being used as a dryer. On this drying 
thoroughly the work is rubbed down until perfectly 
smooth. Next are applied two or three coats of pure 
white lead mixed entirely flat ; each coat is rubbed 
down, time being allowed for it to dry. Equal parts 
of lead and zinc are used for the next coat, and three- 
fourths zinc and one-fourth lead for the one succeeding. 
After this has become thoroughly hard it is rubbed 
down very smooth. A thin coat of color made of zinc 
and turpentine is now rubbed on ; for the next coat the 
same flat color is used, with the addition of about one- 
half the quantity of good light coach varnish. For the 
last coat enough zinc is used in the varnish to make it 
white if the last coat of zinc is not white and solid be- 
fore varnishing. If the work is to be gilded or striped 
the zinc must be left out of the last coat of varnish. 

VARNISH TO IMITATE GROUND GLASS. 

Mr. J. Grarratt has sent the following to the British 
Journal of Photography : To make a varnish to imitate 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 63 

ground glass, dissolve 90 grains sandrac and 20 grains 
of mastic in 2 ounces of washed methylated ether, and 
add, in small quantities, a sufficiency of benzine to 
make it dry with a suitable grain — too little making 
the varnish too transparent, and excess making it 
crapy. The quantity of benzine required depends upon 
its quality — from half an ounce to an ounce and a 
half, or even more ; but the best results are got with a 
medium quality. It is important to use washed ether, 
free from spirit. 

VARNISH FOR RUSTIC WORK. 

One quart of boiled linseed oil and two ounces of 
asphaltum, to be boiled on a slow fire until the asphaltum 
is dissolved, being kept stirred to prevent it boiling over. 
This gives a fine dark color, is not sticky, and looks 
well for a year ; or, first wash the article with soap 
and water, and when dry, on a sunny day do it over 
with common boiled linseed oil ; leave that to dry a 
day or two, then varnish it over once or twice with 
hard varnish. If well done this will last for years and 
prevent annoyance from insects. 

TO CLEAN VERY DIRTY BRASS. 

Kub some Bichromate of Potassa fine, pour over it 
about twice its bulk of Sulphuric Acid, and mix this 
with an equal quantity of water. The dirtiest brass is 
cleaned in a trice. Wash right off in plenty of water, 
wipe it and rub perfectly dry, and polish with powdered 
rotten stone. 



64 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

TO COUNTERFEIT TORTOISE SHELL VERY FINELY. 

In order to do this well, your foundation or ground- 
work must be perfectly smooth and white, or nearly 
so ; you then gild it with silver leaf with slow size, so 
as to have it perfectly smooth with no ragged edges, 
cleaning the loose leaf off. Then grind cologne earth 
very fine, and mix it with gum water, common size ; 
and with this, you having added more gum water than 
it was ground with, spot or cloud the ground work, 
having a fine shell to imitate ; and when this is done, 
you will perceive several reds, lighter and darker, 
appear on the edges of the black, and many times lie 
in streaks on the transparent part of the shell. To 
imitate this finely, grind dragon's blood with gum 
water, and with a fine pencil draw those warm reds, 
flushing it in about the dark places more thickly, but 
fainter and fainter and thinner, with less color towards 
the lighter parts, so sweetening it that it may in a 
manner lose the red, being sunk in the silver or more 
transparent parts. When it is dry, give it a coat of 
varnish, let it stand for a few days, then rub it down 
with pumice stone and water. Then grind gamboge 
very fine, and mix with varnish, giving of this as many 
coats as will cause the silver to have a golden color, 
then finish with a clean coat of varnish. 



PRICE LIST. 

The prices of labor, and cost of material vary so 
much in different localities, that it seems impossible 



GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 



65 



to make a reliable price list for general work. The 
position, condition, and shape of different jobs, all go 
towards making a general price list, an unreliable 
guide ; also the quality of work demanded may make 
50 per cent difference in price. I haVe half a dozen 
printed price lists before me, and thy generally agree 
to about the following prices for painting and glazing : 
To wit— 



1 coat on new work 


per 


yard . . 


8 to 10 cents 


1 " " old 




4« 


10 " 18 " 


2 coats " new " 




H 


18 " 30 •' 


2 " " old 




(t 


20 " 25 " 


3 " " new " 




(( 


25 " 28 " 


Brick walls 2 coats 




(( 


20 " 30 " 


Penciling per yard 


• • 


.... 


10 " 15 " 


PRIMING AND 


GLAZING 


SASH. 


10 X 14 and under 




5 to 6 cents per light, 


12 X 16 ... 




7 " 9 
10 " 13 
15 " 18 
20 " 35 
35 " 50 




14 X 24 ... 






18 X 34 ... 






24 X 30 . . . 






36 X 40 ... 







For old work where the old putty is in the sash, 
multiply the above figures by 3 or 4. When called 
out to the house to set a light or two charge for time and 
material. Most work of this kind is done at least 30 
per cent below the above prices. 

I quote below a price list for sign painters, from 
a very complete report on painter's prices and measure- 
ments, generally, by one of the ablest of local asso- 
ciations of master painters and decorators. 



66 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



JAPANNED TIN 



SIGNS. 

Gold. 



Plain. 



3x14 inches $ 

6x 8 

8x10 
10x14 
llx?7 
11x17 
14x20 
14x30 
18x24 
18x24 



3 lines 



3 lines 



3 lines 



1,25 
1 50 
1 75 
3 50 
3 00 

3 50 

4 00 
4 50 

6 00 

7 00 



75' 
75- 
00 
50 
00- 
55 
50 
00 
50 
00 



Frames additional. 



GLASS SIGNS ON WINDOWS AND DOORS. 

In Silver or Gold. Per foot. 

Letters up to 6 inches in height $ 75 

Letters 6 to 10 " " 1 00 

Letters 10 to 14 •' " 1 50 

Shaded, one color 25 per cent extra.. 





DRUM SIG 


NS. 








Gold. 


Plain. 


10x14 inches . 




. . $ 3 50 


$ 2 50- 


11x17 " . 




. . 4 00 


3 00' 


14x20 " . 




. . 5 00 


3 50 


18x24 '* . 




. . 7 00 


5 00 


20x24 " . 




. . 8 50 


6 50 


24x30 '• . 




. . 10 00 


7 00 


30x36 " . 




. . 12 00 


8 50 


36x48 " . 




. . 15 00 


10 00 



The above include moulding and urns and put- 
ting up. 

Drilling holes in iron extra. 

MUSLIN SIGNS. 

Up to 1 foot high, black, , . . per foot, 8 cts^ 

1 to 2 feet, black, " 10 " 

2 to 3 feet, black " 12 '*- 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 67 

Colored one-half extra. 
Muslin furnished. 
Frames extra. 

OIL CLOTH SIGNS. 

Up to 1 foot per foot, 20 cts. 

1 to 2 feet '• 25 *• 

:2 to 3 feet " 30 »» 

Oil cloth furnished. 

Frames extra. 

BOARD SIGNS. 
Including three coats of paint and lettering. 

Gold. Plain. 

^6 inches x 4 feet $. 4 00 $ 2 50 

8 " X 6 " 5 00 3 50 

10 " X 8 " 6 00 4 00 

1 foot X 12 " 7 50 5 00 

1 foot X 15 " 8 50 5 00 

14 inches x 16 " 8 50 5 00 

14 " X 18 " 9 00 6 00 

14 " X 20 " 9 50 6 00 

16 " X 16 " 9 50 6 00 

16 " X 18 " 10 00 6 00 

18 *' X 18 " 10 00 6 00 

18 " X 20 "...•... 12 00 7 00 

18 '* X 24 " 15 00 7 00 

18 " X 30 " 18 00 8 00 

Board extra. 

Irons and putting up extra. 

Shading, 25 per cent, additional, one color, 

WALL SIGNS. 

Two coats of paint and letterrng. Extra coat, 1 cent per 
square foot additional. 



68 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

2x16 feet $ 6 OO 

2x20 " 7 OO 

2x24 " 8 OO 

2x30 " 10 50 

3x16 " 8 00 

3x20 " ............ 10 00 

3x24 " . . .... 12 00 

3x30 " ............ 14 00 

4x16 " 9 00 

4x20 " 12 00 

4x24 " 13 00- 

4x30 " 15 Oa 

6x16 " 12 00 

6x20 " 14 00' 

6x24 " . 16 00 

6x30 " ............ 18 00 

8x16 " ............ 14 00 

8x20 " . . . . ........ 16 00 

8x24 " 18 00 

8x30 " 20 00 

10x12 " ............ 10 00 

10x16 " 13 00 

10x20 " 16 00 

10x24 " ............ .19 00 

10x30 " . 22 (la 

12x16 " . 14 Oa 

12x20 " 18 00 

12x24 " 20 00 

12x30 *' 25 00 

14x20 " 20 00 

14x24 " 24 00 

14x30 " 28 00 

16x24 " 26 00 

16x30 " 39 00 

20x24 "..... 30 00 

20x30 " 35 oa 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 69 

20x40 feet $40 00 

21x30 " 37 00 

24x36 '' 42 00 

24x40 '* 48 00 

30x40 " 60 00 

30x50 '• 70 00 

30x60 " 80 00 

SHOW CARDS. 

1 sheet, 22x25 $ 1 50 

1 " 14x22 75 

1 " 11x14 50 

The above prices are based upon white lead at 7 cents 
per pound and wages at 33^ cents an hour. 

MIDSUMMER PAINTINQ. 
V. B. GEINNELL. 

All things considered, which is the best time of the 
year to do outside painting ? Spring and fall, did you 
say ? Well, yes, my boy. I know nearly all painters 
think so, and the dear people outside the trade are 
almost, if not quite unanimous in holding the same 
opinion. But why ? Do the howling winds of March, 
the frequent showers of fickle April and looming May 
add very much to the pleasure and profit of doing out- 
side work in spring ? Do the soaking rains, which 
come along about the time of the vernal equinox and 
drive you off your job for a week or two and water- 
soak your unprimed work, add much pleasure to your 
recollections of spring painting ? Do you remember 
anything about the clouds of midges and thousands of 
little moths which filled the air, ready and willing to 



70 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

decorate your paint with their little bodies on every 
still warm mid-da}^ in April and May ? Of course, my 
boy, we are speaking now of climatic conditions from 
our own standpoint, the great Northwest, which may 
also be true in the Middle and New England States. 
The mornings and evenings of spring and fall are apt 
to be cool — often frosty ; then the oil stiffens and the 
paint rubs out hard and goes on slow, and we lose 
time and work harder. Practically, I favor midsum- 
mer for outside work, because the temperature is more 
uniformly warm and the paint spreads easily and 
evenly at any time of day, and as a rule the rains are 
less frequent and give a longer warning of their 
approach. The little black flies are not so plentiful in 
the hot da^^s of summer as they are in spring and 
early fall. They are either dead or seek the shade of 
trees and grass. The dew is all gone in summer before 
seven o'clock a.m., and does not commence to fall 
until after quitting-time. A carpet of grass and other 
vegetation covers a large portion of the ground in 
summer, holding down the dust. The winds are not 
usually so high and gusty in summer as they are in 
the spring and fall. In the warm days of summer 
your work is more apt to dry quickly, cleanly and 
evenly ; and when you ' 'knock off" from work at six 
P.M. and the sun is yet two hours above the horizon, 
you know that your last ground stretch will soon be 
out of the way of dust and rain. In the hot weather 
of summer the pores of the wood are all open,. and the 
oil, which is then soft and thin, goes farther into the 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 71 

wood than in spring and fall, when the weather is cool. 
There are, it is true, some fine days in the fall for out- 
side work, but the rainy season of the autumnal 
equinox and the frosty nights of the later months 
often retard your work and n^ar the finish of your job. 
One objection urged against summer painting is the 
flies, but really are the flies which injure paint any 
more numerous in midsummer than they are in spring 
and fall ? It is true the festive house-fly is in his 
glory in the summer, but, as a rule, he is too smart to 
get stuck in outside paint. To get inside is his 
ambition, and the molasses-cup and sugar-bowl are 
his objective points. If the house-fly is an objection 
in the summer, it certainly is a greater one in the fall, 
for in September and earl}^ in October they are thicker, 
saucier and more familiar than at any other time of 
year ; then they want not only to get at the sugar, 
but to get in and warm. 

A correspondent asks: "Does the reader know 
from practical experiment that one season is better 
than another for applying outside paint ? I suppose 
the writer means the effect upon the wearing qualities 
of the paint and the permanency of the color. I have 
been experimenting for a practical solution of this 
question for my own satisfaction and guidance, and 
have come to the conclusion that paint put on the 
outside in the hot weather of summer will wear as well 
and hold its color as long as paint put on in the. cooler 
days of spring and fall. I know, my boy, the idea 
that paint dries too fast in hot weather is almost 



72 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

aniversal, but I think it grows largely from the fact 
that a quick-drying paint is not as good for outside as 
a slow dryer ; but you must remember, my boy, that 
there is a great difference between a quick-drying paint 
and drying a slow paint as quickly as the ingredients 
will admit of. Linseed oil dries or hardens by ab- 
sorbing oxygen from the air, and that process goes on 
more rapidly in hot weather than in cool weather, 
Decause the air in hot weather is in a condition more 
freely to part with its oxygen, or because the oil is in 
a better condition to receive it, or both. In othei 
words, a warm atmosphere hastens the process oi 
absorption and a cool air retards it, but in either case 
the result is the same : the air gives up enough of its 
oxygen to solidify the oil Now, the question arises, 
can any difference be discovered (chemical or other- 
wise) in the composition of the paint, whether dried in 
warm or cool air ? From a business-point of view, I 
have long advocated summer as a good time to paint 
outside, and have usually succeeded in converting 
customers to my views upon the subject, and as a 
consequence have not often had a dull time in mid- 
summer. We painters . in the country know how 
unpleasant and unprofitable it is to have all the work 
of the year rushed upon us in the spring and fall, and 
I think if painters generally could convince them- 
selves by practical experiment that, all things 
considered, summer-time is the best season of the 
year to do outside work, and advocate the same to 
their customers, backed by argument and practical 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 75 

illustration, there would soon be less need of com- 
plaint about a dull season in midsummer. 

From "House Painting and Decorating", 
TO REMOVE PAINT. 

1. An expeditious way is by chemical process^ 
using a solution of soda and quicklime in equal pro- 
portions. The soda is dissolved in water, the lime ia 
then added, and the solution is applied with a brush to 
the old paint. A few moments are sufficient to remove 
the coats of paint, which may be washed off with hot 
water. The oldest paint may be removed by a paste 
of the soda and quicklime. The wood should be after- 
wards washed with vinegar or an acid solution before 
repainting, to remove all traces of alkali, 

2. Wet the place with naphtha, repeating as often 
as required ; but frequently one application will dis- 
solve the paint. As soon as it is softened, rub the 
surface clean. Chloroform mixed with a small quantity 
of spirit ammonia, composed of strong ammoniac, has 
been employed very succesfuUy to remove the stains- 
of dry paint from wood, silk, and other substances. 

3. To remove paint from floors. — Take one pound 
of American pearlash, three pounds of quickstone 
lime. Slake the lime in water, then add the pearlash^ 
and make the whole about the consistency of paint. 
Lay the mixture over the whole body of the work which 
is required to be cleaned, with an old brush ; let it re- 
main for twelve or fourteen hours, when the paint can 
be easily scraped off. 



"74 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

TO SdFTEN PUTTY AND REMOVE OLD PAINT» 

1. Take three pounds of quickstone lime ; slake 
the lime in water, then add one pound of American 
pearlash ; apply this to both sides of the glass and let 
it remain for twelve hours, when the putty will be 
•softened, and the glass may be taken out without being 
broken. To destroy paint apply it to the whole body 
which is required to be cleaned ; use an old brush, as 
it will spoil a new one ; let it remain about twelve or 
fourteen hours, and then the paint may be easily 
scraped off. 

2. To remove paint from old doors, etc., and to 
soften putty in window frames, so that the glass may 
be taken out without breakage or cutting, take one 
pound of pearlash and three pounds of quicklime; 
elake the lime in water and then add the pearlash, and 
make the whole about the consistency^ of paint. Apply 
to both sides of the glass and let it remain for twelve 
hours, when the putty will be so softened that the 
glass may be taken out of the frame without being cut, 
and with the greatest facility. To destroy paint, lay 
the above over the whole body of the work which is 
required to be cleaned, using an old brushy as it will 
spoil a new one. Let it remain for twelve or fourteen 
hours, when the paint can be easily scraped off. 

3. Paint stains on glass. — American potash three 
parts, unslaked lime, one. Lay this on with a stick, 
letting it remain for some time, and it will remove 

-either tar or paint. (Scientific Amercian Receipt Book.) 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 75. 

TREATMENT OF DAMP WALLS. 

There are two classes of damp walls, first where- 
the water comes in from the outside from defective 
roofs, bad gutters, defective pipes, and where it comes- 
through the walls from the ground, as in basements. 
In the other class we may include walls, which are 
dampened by condensation of moisture, in places shut 
off from the general artificial temperature of the room, 
behind stationary furniture. Such walls may dry out 
during hot weather, or they may be kept damp by a 
growth of mold or fungus. 

When water comes in from the outside, it is 
impossible to keep paint or paper on the wall in good 
shape. Look around for the places, where the water 
comes in, point it out to the owner, and if he fails ta 
stop the leak have it understood that the work is done 
at his risk ; or, what is better, refuse to do the work ; 
because, when a job comes off, or turns out badly, you 
will take the blame generally, no matter, whether it is 
your fault or not. A job may be made to last awhile 
by a water-proof coating, or by sheathing with thia 
lumber, but it is only a question of time when the 
lining material will become water-soaked and spoil the 
paint or paper to your discredit. I have usually beea 
too lusy to take jobs of this kind. If the water can be 
cut off, the next thing is to dry the wall, which you 
can do at the surface only by setting a stove near it, 
or with the flame of a paint burner ; then after all 
your trouble, the water, which remains in the wall, if of 
bricks or stone, may find its way to the surface, and 



♦6 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

destroy your work. Sheet lead cemented to the wall 
will answer a good purpose for a time, but the damp- 
ness will finally destroy the cement and let the metal 
loose. 

Battening out for lath and plaster is the best for 
basement or damp stone walls, but that is the plas- 
terers work and is rarely ever done except in private 
residences. 

Battening and canvasing is next best ; nail your 
battens up and down 18 inches apart. Have the can- 
vas stitched in sheets the right size to cover the large 
blank spaces of the wall. Then stretch and tack it 
on the battens, and give it a coat of glue and alum 
size. 

When dampness is caused by condensation the best 
remedy is to remove the cause and dry the wall. 

TO PAPER ON A BOARD PARTITION. 

When paper is pasted on boards, it must crack, 
when the lumber shrinks. If you paste cloth over the 
cracks, it must crack, if the cracks open further than 
the cloth will stretch. When you tack cloth on a 
partition and size it ; if the size goes through the cloth 
and sticks it fast to the boards, it will be likely to crack 
when the lumber shrinks. For a good job I would 
iidvise that you first cover the partition with paper 
tacked on, then when you size the cloth, it will stick to 
the paper, and not to the boards. I have met with uni- 
form success in this way; because the boards are left free 
to shrink and swell without breaking the cloth or paper. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 77 

I like to sew the cloth together with a running seam 
in pieces large enough to cover all broad spaces, turn 
the smooth side out, stretch well, and fasten the edges 
only ; drive the tacks an inch from the edges of the 
cloth, so that you can fasten them down smoothly with 
paste. When a man has been unwise enough to put a 
board partition across one end of an otherwise fine 
room, and is willing to pay for his folly: 1st take 
measurements of the blank spaces, and sew together 
some fairly strong unbleached muslin, stretch on frames, 
and give it a coat of glue and alum size, and whiting ; 
when dry, carefully fit each piece in its place and tack 
it an inch from the edges and fasten the edges down 
smooth with strong fiour paste. Tack only at the edges, 
and if you are careful to butt edge the different pieces 
over the doors etc., you can make a nice smooth job in 
this way. By using this method the paste will not stick 
the cloth to the wall. Use tinned tacks to prevent 
rust. 

SANDPAPERING. 

This is a job none of us like very well, but since 
it must be done, it is worth while to be able to do it 
to the best advantage. The first thing to look for is 
good paper. To test the strength of the sand, rub 
two pieces together and if the sand don't fly off, it is 
good in that respect ; next see if the paper is tough 
and will not tear easily. Chalk the back of your paper 
before you double it and it will not slip. Don't loose 
time using old worn out paper. New paper will of 



78 GrinnelFs Hand Book on Painting. 

course cut faster than old paper and the difference in 
the time gained by using sharp paper will pay for the 
aew paper twice over. Using old dull paper is like 
trying to save money by using an old stub brush. 
Better use up fifty cents worth of paper than to foo! 
away dollars worth of time, trying to save money by 
using old paper. 

If you have old hard paint to cut down, which dry 
sand paper will not touch, keep the work wet with ben- 
zine, and you will be surprised to see how fast the 
sand paper will cut the paint. To put on benzine use 
a small spring bottomed can such as is used for oiling 
machinery. You can use any grade of sand paper, 
and it will not soak up or gum. No. 1 paper is the 
best for this purpose. A great deal of time may be 
lost where scrapers could be used to much better ad- 
vantage. A broad flat scraper to shove endwise is 
always in order, and a few narrow ones with various 
shaped ends to fit in headings, mouldings etc. are a 
great help. 

A STENCILED BORDER. 

This makes a nice finish for a painted or kalsomined 
room. To make it look at its best, paint a stripe as- 
wide as your stencil in a pleasant contrast to the paint 
on the room and put the stencil on that in soft 
harmonizing colors. 

REPAINTING SCALED WORK. 

To repaint a job, which has commenced to scale^ 
i^ithout taking oflf all the old paint, is very uncertain 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 79 

work, but if you have to try it, have it understood in 
writing, or before witnesses, that it is done at the owners 
risk First scrape off the loose paint, then go over 
the job with raw oil ; put it on freely and let it stand 
until dry ; then scrape off all the paint loosened by the 
oil, and coat up with strictly pure white lead and oil. 
Avoid zinc, and mixtures of zinc, and barytes, on 
jobs of this kind ; because they are more or less liable 
to crack, and pull off more of the old paint. White 
lead and oil lightly tinted will hold it if anything will. 
Use raw oil and little good japan. 

TO MIX WATER COLORS. 

Light weight colors which will not mix well with 
water, may be easily mixed to a stiff paste with molasses 
or sirup, then mix in glue size for a binder and thin 
with water. 

TO SIZE MUSLIN FOR LETTERING. 

Use a thin size of white glue in water, or a thin 
starch paste. For a sign to stand weather, dissolve white 
wax in turpentine by heat. Melt the wax in a kettle 
then take it outside and by degrees add sufficient spirits 
of turpentine to make a thin size. 

One ounce of wax to the quart of turps is about 
right. Put it on warm with a brush. 

ANOTHER FOR WHITE WORK. 

Slack a little good fresh lime in hot water and mix 
a size with skim milk. Then strain through cheese cloth. 



80 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



This size is, when dry, insoluble in water and will hold 
lettering as long as the cloth lasts. May be tinted. 

marks' wall paper cutter for paper hangers use. 



1 


^S 








/a 


Wf^^ 


\ 






rfl 


ife:^^ 


*^ 






^5^** «^L^ 




A 






1 


0M 






J 


^^^j/ 


L 






/M 


ft 


^p 


^g 


11 






•^ 




/Ik" 




1 


„„rmHfmct^.^ 



The cutter consists of a two edged cutting knife and 
a shear edged steel straight edge, fastened to the edge 
of the paste board. Marks' cutter is a first-class tool. 
Manufactured by James Marks, 666 Avenue D, Bay- 
onne, N. J. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 81 



A FEW SIJGaESTlONS FOR USING BLISS ROCK PAINT. 

The Bliss Rock Paint 

Is made of a peculiar rock formation, pulverized 
by the best machinery, made expressly for the Bliss 
Rock Paint Company. This paint mixes readily with 
linseed oil, spreads easily, wears remarkably well, and 
< 'stands up" in oil as well as any heavy pigment made. 
It is of a light gray color when dry, but has very little 
color in oil, hence, it can be mixed with expensive 
colors such as drop black, green, red, blue, etc., to 
the extent of from two to six pounds of Rock Paint to 
one pound of color, without materially changing the 
tone to the color used, making it much better and 
cheaper paint. 

Light Tints. 

"When making light tints it will be found necessary 
to add from ^ to ^ by weight of white lead to the Rock 
Paint, also sufficient dryer ; litharge is the best if a 
good article can be obtained. 

To Make a Rich Green 

Mix three pounds Prussian blue, ten pounds 
medium chrome yellow, and eighty pounds of Bliss 
Rock Paint, in linseed oil, and you will have a paint 
with good body which will stand the weather as well, 
if not better than any other green made. 



82 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

To Make Drop Black Cheaper and More 
Durable. 

Mix three parts Bliss Rock Paint with one part 
Drop Black and jou have a black paint with good 
Dody which will hold its color and wear outside on 
sash, screens, iron work, etc. , etc. 

This paint can be used to advantage in place of 
white lead, and clear drop black in carriage work. 

Bliss Rock Paint 

Dries hard and solid from the bottom up. 

Roof Paint. 

For roof paint, color Rock Paint with green, red 
or other colors. Remember it takes but very little 
good color to tint Rock Paint. 

Floor Paint. 

Rock, six parts ; litharge, one part ; color with 
QQedium or orange chrome yellow, or other color to 
suit. Mix with two parts oil and one of turpentine,, 
or otherwise, according to the time you can give it to- 
dry. Do not put dryer in more paint than can be used 
in the next twenty -four hours. 

Tints. 

Two parts of Rock Paint and one part by weight 
of white lead, tinted in various proportions with lemon 
chrome yellow, with a little litharge as a dryer makes 
fine soft tints. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 83 

Kalsomine, Fresco, Wall Paint and Putty. 

Bliss Rock Paint makes first-class kalsomine, also 
the best wall paint and fresco when properly mixed, 
:and has no equal for making putty. 

For Durable Green and Olive Shades, 

Color Rock Paint with lamp black and medium 
■chrome yellow ground in oil ; use more yellow than 
black. Some brands of color in oil will tint or color 
fifty per cent, more paint than others, because they 
^re strictly pure. 

Always Tint or Color 

Bliss Rock Paint before using it 

Always Use a Dryer 

With Bliss Rock Paint. 



NOTICE. 

Any further information regarding Bliss Rock 
Paint, will be cheerfully sent from the oflace by 
mail or otherwise. 

THE BLISS ROCK PAINT CO., 

VINTON, IOWA. 

N.B. — Bliss Rock Paint is an excellent wood filler 
:and makes a fine primer. Does not chalk or peel off. 
Sold dry and in oil colored ready for use. 



84 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

BEONZES, — COLORS. 

White, Silver, Flesh, 

Light Gold, Dark Gold, Rich Gold,. 

Lemon, Orange, Fire, 

Copper, Carmine, Crimson, 

Lilac, Violet, Brown* 

Light and Dark Greens. 

POLISH TO RFNOVATE VARNISHED WORK. 

1 quart good vinegar, 2 ounces butter of antimony,, 
2 ounces alcohol, 1 quart oil. Shake before using. 

BLACK VARNISH FOR IRON. 

Asphaltum, 2 pounds. 

Boiled linseed oil, 1 pint, 

Spirits turpentine, 2 quarts. 
Melt the asphaltum with the oil in an iron kettle. 
Stir well before removing from the fire. When partly 
cool add the turpentine and a little good japan. 

TO FREE BENZINE FROM ITS OFFENSIVE ODOR. 

To deodorise benzine add 3 ounces quick lime to 
the gallon of benzine ; shake well. Let the lime settle 
and pour off and filter the benzine. 

PAINT TO PREVENT WOOD EXPOSED TO THE GROUND* 
FROM ROTTING. 

Take of linseed oil, 4 parts ; whiting, 40 parts ; 
rosin, 50 parts ; clean sand, 300 parts ; heat together 
in a kettle until the rosin melts ; then add 2 parts sul- 
phate of copper ; the mass to be well stirred, and thin- 
ned to workable consistency with linseed oil. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 85 

RECIPES FOR BLACKBOARD SLATING. 

Dissolve 1 pound shellac, in 1 gallon 95 per cent 
alcohol, then add | pound best powdered ivory black, 
5 ounces finest emery flour, 2 ounces ultramarine blue • 
mix well and keep air tight. When using stir fre- 
quently. If thick enough to show brush marks, add 
more alcohol ; work quick with a fine brush. 

TO MAKE A BLACK BOARD ON COMMON PLASTER. 

Stop all cracks and holes with plaster paris mixed 
in glue size. When diy sand-paper until all is smooth . 
then paper the wall with white blank wall paper butt 
the edges, put on with strong paste, and be careful to 
rub out all blisters. When dry prime with oil paint, 
then sand-paper with fine paper, and put on two coats 
of above slating. This makes an excellent black board. 
Boards which I made in this way 20 years ago, are in 
good shape yet, and will last for years to come with 
an occasional repainting. 

CHEAP SLATING, BUT GOOD. 

Mix lamp black, 4 parts, ultramarine blue, 1 part, 
by weight, in turpentine with sufficient good japan and 
a very little oil to bind it, then add one part by weight 
of jin& pumice-stone. Have it thin enough to flow on 
and not leave brush marks. 

WATER-PROOF OIL RUBBER PAINT FOR CLOTH. 

Melt 2J pounds of India rubber in one-half gallon 
of boiled oil by boiling. If too thick, add more oil ; 
if too thin, add more rubber, and a little Japan to dry 
it. Apply warm. 



86 Griniieirs Hand Book on Fainting. 

TO CLEAN PAINT. 

Have some whiting on a plate, then dip a piece of 
flannel in warm, soft water and squeeze nearly dry, 
then take up some of the whiting by dipping the 
flannel in it, and rub the paint until it looks clean, 
then rub dry with a soft cloth or shamois skin. 

GOOD QUICK STAIN FOR A BRICK-CHIMNEY. 

For red stain, take Yenitian red two parts, yellow 
ocher one part, — both dry — and mix with skim-milk. 
For yellow stain, use water-lime, tinted with yellow 
ochre. Mix as above. 

Skim-milk when mixed with common quick-lime, 
Portland cement, or Yenitian red, is converted into an 
insoluble binder, which renders the mixture water- 
proof, so that it will not wash off when wet ; neither 
will it rub up when dry. Other pigments can be 
added, by way of coloring, up to 25 per cent, without 
affecting the insolubility of the paint. 

For a brick-wall, which has not been rubbed or 
painted, skim-milk and Yenitian red toned down with 
yellow ochre, beats any glue and acid mixture for 
durability. 

TO CLEAN DOOR-PLATES. 

Put on with a rag a weak solution of ammonia in 
water, and rub to dryness. 

TO CLEAN VARNISHED PAINT. 

In a gallon of water, boil a pound of wheat bran, 
and wash the varnish with the water. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 87 

SLOWING THE DRYING OF PAINT. 

In wall painting or otherwise, especially in hot 
weather, if the paint dries so fast as to show laps in 
spite of your best efforts with the brush, the addition 
of a little cotton seed oil will make the paint dry 
slower without hurting the gloss ; or if you are using 
flat color, and it dries too fast, a little cotton seed oil will 
make it dry slower, and not make a gloss. You can, 
by a little experiment, determine how much of cotton 
seed oil to use in each case. 

FINE BRONZE FOR METALS. 

Red aniline (fuschine) 20 parts, purple aniline 10 
parts, 95 per cent, alcohol 200 parts, acid benzoic 10 
parts. Dissolve the colors in the spirit in a porcelain 
vessel in a water or sand bath ; add the acid and boil 
until the mixture changes from a greenish color to a 
beautiful bronze color. Lay it on the bright metal 
with a brush. 

REPAINTING BLISTERED DOORS. 

When the paint commences to blister or scale on a 
door, it is very liable to keep on blistering and scaling 
from time to time, as long as any of the old paint is left 
on the door ; no matter how carefully it may be 
repainted, because in most cases whatever caused the 
paint to scale off in spots, weakened the entire coat of 
paint on the door, making it liable to raise up, or come 
off in other places, whenever exposed to any extra 
strain, such as sun heat, or the drying of new coats 
of paint or varnish over it ; hence, to have a sure 



88 GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 

thing on painting a scaled or blistered door, take oft 
all the old paint. Put on a thin prime of pure white 
lead and linseed oil; use the priming sparingly and 
ruh it out thin ; let the prime dry and coat up with 
lead and oil paint, mixed with good body ; put ic 
a little turps and spread the paint out thiuj so it will 
dry solid ; rub each coat in the same way ; give each 
coat time to dry solid. For work to be varnished, 
prime as above, and coat up flat. I think blistering is 
often caused by flowing on too much paint having too 
much oil in it, in proportion to the pigment, hence, it 
does not dry solid, the oil is softened and expanded 
by heat, and the coating, which is more of an oil skin 
than a body of paint, lets go its hold on the wood and 
puffs out in a blister to make room for the softened 
and expanding oil skin. If painters will mix their 
paint with good body, and use more elbow grease in 
rubbing it out, they will have less trouble with blisters, 

FIRE PROOF PAINT FOR ROOFS &C. 

A recipe published thirty years ago in the Maine 
Farmer : — 

''Slack stone lime by putting it in a tub to be 
covered to keep in the steam. When slacked pass the 
powder through a fine sieve, and to each 6 quarts of it 
add 1 quart rock salt, and water, 1 gallon j then boil 
and skim clean. To each five gallons of this add 
pulverized alum, 1 pound; pulverized copperas, -J pound ^ 
then slowly add powdered potash, f pound ; then add 
hardwood ashes sifted, 4 pounds ; now add any-cold 



Grinnell's bana Book on Palnttng. 89* 

and apply with a brush. This paint stops small leaka 
in roofs, prevents moss, is incombustible, and render* 
brick waterproof. It is durable as stone. 

VARNISH FOR IRON. 

Genuine asphaltum 8 pounds, melt in an iron kettle,, 
slowly adding boild linseed oil, 5 gallons ; litharge 
1 pound, and sulphate of zinc, i pound ; continue to 
boil 3 hours, then add dark gum amber, 1|- pounds, 
and boil 2 hours longer. When cool thin with tur- 
pentine to good working consistency. 

BLACK VARNISH FOR IRON. 

Genuine asphaltum, (not coal tar imitation) 1 pound;, 
lamp black, ^ pound ; rosin, ^ pound ; spirits turpen- 
tine, 1 quart. Dissolve the asphaltum and rosin in the 
turpentine, then rub up the lamp-black with linseed oil^ 
only sufficient to form a paste, and mix with the 
others. 

TO MIX DRY LAMP BLACK. 

First cut it up in benzine or turpentine to a thick 
paste, stir well and add linseed oil, if the black is to- 
be used as an oil paint, a little at first, stir well and 
you may add more. In this way you will have no 
trouble in mixing it with other paint, if you do it whert 
the paint is rather stiff. 

TO CLEAN BRASS. 

■J ounce oxolic. acid, 3 ounces rotten stone, ^ ounce 
gum arable, each in powder ; made into a paste with 
sweet oil. Use sparingly and rub dry with flannel. 



-90 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

DIPPING PAINT. 

Grind dry colors in japan and turps with only 
enough japan to bind the pigment. When dry varnish, 
use any pigment 3^ou like, or use bolted whiting and 
color as j^ou like. 

TO MAKE WAX FINISH FOR FLOORS. 

Take two ounces pearlash and two pounds white 
wax. Slice the wax thin, and boil it with the pearlash 
in two quarts of water, stir until the wax is melted 
and unites with the water. 

Put on the finish with a brush, and polish with 
^cloth or plush. 

This finish will be good only for light servico. 

SPIRIT VARNISHES. 

There are numerous recipes, which might be given 
liere for making fine elastic varnishes, but it would not 
be practicable for the painter to make them, even if he 
had the resquisite skill and experience, but with spirit 
Tarnishes it is very different, and the painter can make 
them by a formula as well as an expert can. (For 
formulas for white and orange shellac varnish, see 
article on wood finishing). For inside work, where the 
family is living at the time the work is being done, 
the alcohol varnish is preferable. First, because it 
'dries very quickly and second, because it is free from 
sickening or disagreeable odors. 

Below are several recipes for making varnishes, 
which dry hard and lusterous. The spirit used is 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 9t 

wood or grain alcohol ; in either case, the spirit should 
be 95 per cent, proof. 

BROWN HARD SPIRIT VARNISH. (SELECTED.) 

1. Sandarac one pound, shellac one-half pound,, 
gum elemi four ounces, Venice turpentine four ounces, 
spirit one gallon. 

2. Gum sandarac one and one-half pounds, shellac- 
one pound, spirit one gallon. After the gums are- 
dissolved, put in rosin turpentine varnish, one pint. 
This makes a good varnish, not as quick drying as- 
pure spirit varnishes. 

A brown varnish may be made by mixing shellac 
one and one-half pounds, pale rosin one and one-half 
pounds, spirit two gallons. 

WHITE HARD VARNISH. 

1. Sandarac two and one-half pounds, gum thus^ 
one pound, spirit one gallon. 

2. Mastic one-half pound, sandarac two pounds^ 
elemi gum four ounces, spirit one gallon. 

3. Mastic one-half pound, sandarac one pound^ 
turps two ounces, spirit one gallon. 

These are all prepared by mixing and setting in a 
warm place until the gums are dissolved, then they ara 
ready for use. Shake occasionally. For fine work 
strain carefully. 

MORE WHITE VARNISHES. 

1. Pale mannilla copal eight ounces, gum cam« 
phor one ounce, mastic two ounces, Venice turpentine^ 
one ounce, spirit one quart. 



« Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

2. Sandarac eight ounces, mastic two ounces, 
Canada balsam four ounces, spirit one quart. 

3. Sandarac eight ounces, damar four ounces, gum 
*hus eight ounces, mannilla copal eight ounces, elemi 
-eight ounces, spirit one-half gallon. This is a good 
pale article. 

4. Gum thus eight ounces, gum benzoin four 
ounces, mannilla elemi four ounces, spirit one quart. 

VARNISH PAINTS. 

These are made by mixing opaque pigments with 
almost any varnish, using suflScient turps to mak« 
4;hem spread well. 

GOLD VAR?nSH. 

Shellac eight ounces, sandarac eight ounces, mastic 
eight ounces, gamboge two ounces, dragons blood one 
ounce, tumeric four ounces, spirit one gallon. 

FURNITURE VARNISH. 

Shellac one and three-fourths pounds, sandarac 
four ounces, mastic four ounces, spirit one gallon. 

DAMAR VARNISH. 

Damar one ounce, sandarac five ounces, mastic one 
♦ounce, turps twenty ounces. Digest at gentle heat 
until dissolved. If necessary add more turps to bring 
down to the proper consistency. 

LACQUERS FOR BRASS AND TIN. 

Pale gold lacquer. Spirit one gallon, orange 
:^shellac one ounce, gamboge one-half ounce. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 93 

Deep gold. Orange shellac 10 ounces, turmerie 
four ounces, gamboge four ounces, dragons blood one- 
half ounce, spirit three-fourths gallon. 

Brass Lacquer. Shellac fourteen ounces, turmeric 
four ounces, annotto one ounce, saffron one-half ounce, 
spirit one gallon. 

LEATHER VARNISH (bLACK). 

Shellac twelve ounces, gum thus five ounces, 
sandarac two ounces, lamp-black one ounce, turpentine 
four ounces, spirit three-fourths gallon. 

Mix the ingredients, and give them time to dis- 
solve in Jthe spirit in a warm place. A shake-up now 
and then will quicken the process. 

PAPER HANGERS OUTFIT. 

Bib overalls, large pocliet in front, side-pockets for 
rule and shears, long trimming shears, shorter wet 
shears, straight edge, paste board, plumb bob, rule, ^ 
paper brush, paste pail, size kettle, stepladders and 
rollers, some sandpaper, soft cloths and long blotting- 
paper to use under your roller on seams, when needed, 
and a plank for scoffold, when papering ceilings. For 
common sized rooms two step-ladders are good in the 
place of trestles to hold up the plank. For butt edging 
I can recommand James Marks' paper cutters. See 
description on another page. 

PAPER HANGERS PASTE. 

Beat up four pounds of sifted wheat flour in cold 
water sufficient to make a stiff batter ; beat out all the 
iumps, then add enough more cold water to make it 



04 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

like pudding batter. Then pour in a little hot water 
and stir, then pour in hot water fast, and stir until the 
paste swells and thickens, and turns darker. It is then 
cooked. To keep the paste from "going back", and 
staining the paper, add about two ounces of powdered 
or well pounded alum to the boiling water, which you 
pour on the batter. This will make three-quarters of a 
common wooden pail full of paste. It will do better 
and go further, if you let it cool before using. Turn 
a little cold water on the top to prevent it skining over 
while you wait for it to cool. When ready to use it, 
thin with cold water, until it works easily under the 
brush, and according to the wall. A very rough 
porous wall needs a stout paste and plenty of it, while 
a hard smooth wall should have the paste thinned and 
less of it. I have known paper to crack and fall off 
from a smooth wall, because too much or too thick 
paste was put on. Just enough to cement the paper 
to such a wall is best ; a body of paste between the 
paper and plaster will decay and peel off, and take the 
paper with it. The other extreme must be avoided 
also. Some hangers prepare this paste without the 
alum. 

If hanging paper on a glossy painted surface, leave 
out the alum and add one-half pint of nice clear sirup 
to each gallon of paste. 

TO MAKE A PASTE FOR PAPERING OVER PAINTED OR. 
VARNISHED WALLS. 

In a kettle mix some flour in water in the same 
way as in the above formula, but make the batter 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting 95 

thinner. To each gallon of the batter add one ounce 
of powdered rosin. Set the kettle on a moderate fire, 
and keep stirring until it boils and thickens, and the 
rosin is melted into the paste. When cool, thin down 
with a weak solution of gum arable. 

LIQUID GLUE. 

Fine glue dissolved in alcohol makes a nice binder 
for fine water-colors. 

TO CRYSTALIZE GLASS. 

Lay the glass flat and flow heavy alum water over 
it. Let it dry, 

SIZE FOR WALLS BEFORE PAPERING OR KALSOMINING. 

One pound good white glue, one pound good bor 
soap, two pounds pulverized alum. Dissolve each 
separate in one quart boiling water, first having soaked 
the glue. Mix the glue and soap water, and then 
slowly add the alum water, stirring all the time. Add 
cold water to make one gallon. 

STAIN OAK WOOD. 

Wash with a solution of bichromate potash and 
acid water. One ounce to a quart of water. 

SIZING WALLS. 

"Any body can do it ! " Yes, but it takes an ex- 
pert to do it right ! It is not a diflScult matter to 
make paper stick to white wash, but the white wash 
splits as far in as the paste goes, and a part of it in- 
variably sticks to the paper when it comes off and a 



96 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

part of it is left on the wall. As a rule, if you size 
white wash with flour paste and let it stand a few days 
it will crack and roll up. Now, pure glue size does not 
have this effect upon white wash, but on the contrary, 
it not only acts as a binder, but as an intervening coat 
between the paste and the white wash. In other words : 
the glue size will stick the white wash fast without 
causing it to crack, and the paste will adhere to the 
glue size without bad effects upon either. Now, in 
order to bind the white wash, the glue should penetrate 
^s far as possible. Hence, the size should be put on 
warm, and the room should be warm, otherwise the 
glue will get cold, and stiff like jelly before it has 
time to penetrate, hence, it will remain on the surface 
instead of going into white wash as a binder. The idea 
is, to get all you can into the wall, and leave as little 
as possible on the outside. Another thing to look 
after is the quality of the glue. Very much of the 
white glue found on the market is not genuine glue. 
Some of it is adulterated with starch and white clay, 
some of it is not glue at all. A glue which will dissolve 
in cold water is not good glue, or if it melts readily 
in hot water without being soaked an hour or two in 
cold water, it is not first class. If it has a dead white 
look it is not good. Good glue should be glossy and 
semi-transparent and should soften and swell in cold 
water, but not dissolve in it. When put into hot water 
without being first soaked in cold water, it should 
not dissolve at once, but form into a lump and resist 
the action of the hot water for some time. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 97 

HOW TO APPLY WHITE ENAMELED LETTERS TO GLASS. 

An extract from a circular issued by the manu- 
facturers of these letters : 

Huvmg thoroughly cleaned the window and freed 
it from grease, draw with white marking chalk on front 
of it the plan or arrangement of outline it is intended 
to adopt — straight or curved, as the case may be. A 
rule is used for marking the straight lines and a 
piece of twine for the curved lines. Now divide 
these guide lines up into as many spaces as there are 
letters to go on, carefully proportioning them. Then 
applj' the cement to the back of the letters with a 
knife, lajing on equally around both the inside edges 
Place the letter upon the window in the space marked 
for it and work it up and down, back and forth, press- 
ing against the glass, so as to expel the air and secure 
n good adhesion, and taking care to press equally on 
top and bottom of the letter, as otherwise there is a 
likelihood of breaking. It is advisable, in cementing 
larger sized letters than six inches, to leave the letters 
iay for an hour after placing the cement around the 
edges, and then to give another coat of cement and 
attach the letters immediately. The object is to prevent 
all the cement from working inside the concave parts 
of the letters. In affixing larger and heavy letters 
small pieces of beeswax (or, in summer, sealing-wax) 
should be employed to keep them in position until the 
xjemcnt sets. As soon as the letters are attached to 
the glass take a small stick of wood, sharpen it on the 
3nd and clean away all superfluous cement, keeping the 



98 GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 

end of the stick constantly wet. Particular care shoulcl 
be taken to leave no openings between the letters and 
the glass (especially around the top edges) which would 
allow water to get in between. 

If wax has been used, remove it after a few days 
and clean with a rag. The sign is then complete for 
long service. The above method will answer equally 
well on any smooth surface such as stone, iron, marble, 
wood. 

To make the cement, mix two parts of white lead 
ground in oil, with three parts of dry white lead, and 
thin it down to the consistency of soft putty with some 
good furniture or copal varnish. Then take small 
parts of it and grind them on a stone or glass plate in 
the manner of painters grinding color with a bowl or 
palette-knife. This is to be continued until the cement 
is entirely smooth and cornless, and then it is ready 
for use. 

To remove enameled letters, the most convenient 
way is to scratch away around the edges all the cement 
you can from under the letters. Use for this purpose 
a very thin knife or a piece of thin sheet steel. You 
will soon reach the soft part of the cement ; then cut 
away with a sawing motion and twist them off. Do 
not attempt to pry the letters off, or they may break. 
If the cement should be very hard, say after a number 
of years, use a little kerosene oil, which is applied on 
the top edges of the letters, so as to work in and soften 
the cement. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 99 

WALL SIZING FOR KALSOMINING. 

There are many things about wall sizing, which 
'depend largely upon good judgement for success, be- 
cause the treatment must be varied according to the 
condition of the wall or ceiling. A good size is made 
of good white glue, ^ pound ; rosin soap, ^ pound ; 
alum, 1 pound. 

Dissolve the glue in the usual way, that is soak it 
in cold water until soft, then pour off the cold water 
and pour on the hot water and stir until the glue is 
dissolved. 

Slice the soap fine in water and dissolve by heat. 

Dissolve the alum in hot water. 

Then stir the glue and soap together, and put in 
the alum water. Thin the mixture with water to the 
right consistency to work well. 

If one coat is not sufficient give it two, or if there 
are porous places in the wall touch them up. 

In many cases a simple glue size is sufficient, but 
if you use the glue, soap, and alum size as above 
directed, you will be pretty sure of a good foundation 
for kalsomine. 

One of the most difficult things to overcome in pre- 
paring ceilings for kalsomine is the water stain, which 
is liable to be invisible until developed by a coat of 
kalsomine. If you find water stains on a ceiling and 
suspect that there may be others which do not show, 
go over the ceiling with a thin wash of whiting mixed 
in clear water, which when dry will develop all hidden 
stains. To kill a bad stain. 1st put on a coat of oil, 



100 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

japan and turps equal parts ; 2d put on a coat of good 
heavy shellac ; 3d give the spots a coat of flat lead. 
This treatment is for dark stains ; for light stains a coat 
or two of shellac will stop the stain. It is best to put 
a coat of keg lead thinned with turps over the shellac^ 
because kalsomine is liable to scale off from shellac. 

On cheap work if the stain is not too dark, it may 
be kept back by pasting a piece of paper over it. If the 
wall has been kalsomined it is always in order to wash 
off the old kalsomine. If the work has been white- 
washed, either take it off or first give it a wash of 
strong vinegar, then a glue size, which, if put on thin 
and plentifully while warm in a warm room, is about 
the best size I know of for white wash. I have often 
used it successfully when it was not practicable on 
account of the weakness of the ceiling or other cause 
to take off the old white wash. Two thin coats of 
good glue size on firm white wash makes a fair 
foundation for kalsomine as can be made on old 
white wash. 

When it will not pay you to wash off the old 
kalsomine, a coat or two of the wall sizing described 
above will make a good foundation. 

SIGN PAINTING. 

To the beginner I will say : Learn the letters ; get 
a variety of alphabets in your head ; the more you 
have the better you will be prepared to do a pleasing 
variety of sign writing. A variety of letters arranged 
in alphabets are given in the following pages, as a 



i^rinneirs Hand Book on Painting. loi 

convenient means of reference for the painter who 
may desire to refresh his memory, as to the form of 
any letter represented ; or to make a study of them 
with a view of acquiring a knowledge of the formation 
of letters generally. 

No. 1. GOTHIC CONDENSED. 

ABCDEFG 
HIJKLM 

OPQRSTU 

VWXYZ& 





103 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

No. 1. GOTHIC CONDENSED.— Continued. 

abcdefghi 
mnopqr 
stuvwxyz 
123456 
7890.. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 103 

No. 2. HEAVY ANTIQUE EXTENDED. 



ZX I J- XS. Xji Ti/L ONT 



"XT "SAT- ^SL^^r ^Zk 
Xa84S67G90 

€t Id o d o f gr li 
i j 1^ 1 m n o i> 

3s: y as , - 

No. 3. STERLING. 

flBGDE&FGH 
IdKLbMNOPQ 
RSTUVWXYZ6C 
12345 67890.. 



104: Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

No. 4. LATIN CONDENSED. 

.^ ]B C ID E 
F" G HE I J K: 

iL^ m: N O F^, 

^ t> c^ d e^ £ g 
h. i j k 1 inrx 
x-x o j3 q i^ ^ t 



! Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 105 

No. 5. LINING GOTHIC. 

A B C D 
E F G HI 
J K L M 

N O P Q 
RSTUV 
WXYZ& 
123 4 6. 
6 7 8 9 0. 



106 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

No. 6. CONDENSED ALDINE. 

illlCDEFIiBI 
JKLllllOrtR 
STPWXYZ,.& 

al)cil«f|liijklin 

DOp<|l'$tutWX]IZ 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 107 

No. 7. SHADED. 
1 








ol MO] 





m m 




WWX¥1. 




O) WW m 






lOa Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

No. 8. SHADED. 



I 



^ $ 

w 



No. 9. SOLAR. 



K b M N F Q R S 
T U ¥ W X Y Z .,& 
1234567890 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 
No. 10. CLEMATIS. 



log 



U 1 K 1 S 



■ f 



No. 11. CHAUCER. 



/\ B <^ i> B [? a 

H I J P^ 1^ Tn n 
€> p €^ T^ g» T If) 

V <jO X y ^ ., ^ 

€1 b c d e f 3 1^ i 
^tuva>xc^3 



110 GrinneU's Hand Book on Painting. 

No. 12. STEELPLATE TEXT. 





♦ § 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. Ill 

No. 13. SYLVAN TEXT. 

21 ^ c :d € 

Q 2^ 5 £ U 
VVOXX) 




113 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. , 

No. 13. SYLVAN TEXT— Continued. 

abcbcfgf^i 
jBImnopqr 

H 2 34 5 67 
8 9 . , & 



Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 
No. 14. , SHADED. 



113 

























qftf 



114 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

No. 15. MODERN TEXT. 



No. 16. CLEFT GOTHIC. 



AIB©liEFQ- IflJ ^J 
K \L m m C# If C| It S 

iis#(ieis^© 



110 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



r 



(0 
O 



G 



< 

Z 

o 

G 

oil 




% 



S (/) 


■t w 




1^^ 
1^^ 


< 0^ (^r 






S r) r 


* 





Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



117 



^ 



6Q 

o 



VjCF^ 



o 



\=i=/ 



118 



GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 




Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



119 









o 

CO 



0) h DC m m h 



< o 



« (0 

D uj 

Z I 

< CO 



(0 

o 

>1^ 



S < DC 5^ UJ h ^ 



00 



120 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



30 




i:krnmmts 



32 







*^J!»S^- 



M^*tf-» 



BROKER ^. 



BANKER 



H 
I 










so 



Grinnell's Haur' Book on Painting. 121 



Hi 



^ 



s^ 



^ 



tBfli-. 







Now, dear wife, console 3'oiirself ; you shall 
have your rooms 

• • • WITH THE . . . 

:bi_iISS prook: 

-w FRESCOING MATERIAL,*-*- 

All the finest houses are finished with it ; 
it holds its color, and does not rub ofl^. 



If 



':5^' 



F^ 



^^ 



123 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 



\j.j_i 




am writing to let you know what 



, ^jf.^_^ ^^^jS^^jf^ ^^4fe 







■^•i© 




'■«^^*^ V ■*^^--«'-'*^ '*^^*^*---*-^*^*^^*^*^*^--«*^* -v * *• '^^'Sr 



.... is good for .... 

It makes the finest putty, 

Is good for carriage paint, 

For stripmg color, and 

For wood, brick and metal hnildings. 
It makes fine car paint, and 

Railway Co's. use it. 



Grinnoirs Hand Book on Painting. 12» 




■w:e ^re HUN tin a 



for the man who sold us poor material. 



We shall repaint our floors and porches 



with 



BUSS iROCK i PAINT 



It holds its color well; 

And weaves like stone.. 

See pages 81, 82 and 83. 



124 GrinnelJ's Hand Book on Painting. 

TO MAKE HARD PUTTY. 

For Carriage Work. 
Mix equal parts of dry Bliss Rock and keg white 
lead with equal parts of rubbing varnish and gold size 
japan ; mix thoroughl}^ and pound well. 

For Hurried Work. 
Mix dry white lead with equal parts of rubbing 
varnish and gold size japan. Keep hard putty covered 
in water when not in use. 

TO MAKE AND APPLY KALSOMINE. 

Soak one pound good white glue in cold water until 
soft, then pour off the cold water, and dissolve the 
glue in hot water. Mix twenty pounds of good whiting 
in water to a thick paste ; dissolve one pound of alum 
in water, and add it to the mixture ; for colored work 
dry Bliss Bock Paint is better than whiting. Before 
mixing the glue and whiting, put in your tinting colors, 
which should be ground in water. Test your color by 
dipping in a piece of paper and letting it dry. After 
you put in the glue, test in the same way to see 
if there is enough glue to bind it well, then set your 
kalsomine aside to get cold. 

Thin to good workable consistency with cold water. 

Have in enough glue to hold it from washing up 
when you have to put on a second coat. Too much glue 
will cause the kalsomine to go on hard, and crack and 
scale off when dry.' If it dries too fast, add two ounces 
of glycerine to one gallon of kalsomine. Have good 
staging, and two men for a good sized room. Use 



O-rinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 125 

good kalsomine brushes, and work fast. Lay on the 
kalsomme freely ; the beauty of the work will depend 
upon how you lay it off, and level it up. Put it on 
not as you would paint all one way^ but work your 
brush in all directions, until your work is level, then 
carefully lay it off with light strokes. 

For a white job put in a little blue. If you have 
never done a job of kalsomining, and have no one to 
aid you, practice on the wall in your shop or any other 
place, until you get the knack of it. Cover a small 
space and see how it comes out. 

AUways finish lightly with the point of your brush. 
If an edge dries, stop and wet it with a clean brush 
and clear water ; if careful you can join to it with- 
out showing "laps". If you find you have missed 
any spots wet the edges in the same way, and carefully 
touch them up with kalsomine. If you find after all 
your precautions, a waterstain has come through your 
kalsomine, wet the place with a solution of sugar of 
lead, made in proportion of 1 ounce sugar of lead to 
1 quart of rain water ; it may kill the stain. See 
article on wall sizing and water stains, Page 39. 

Rough places in plaster take more color than a 
smooth wall, hence, they are liable to show spots ; so it 
stands you in hand to make such places smooth as 
possible ; to do this take off the rough sand with sand 
paper and knife or trowel on a thin coat of plaster 
paris, or give the rough places an extra coat or two of 
size. Fill all cracks and holes, and give the filling time 
to dry before puting on the size, because otherwise, it 



126 GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 

will take more color than the ballance of the wall and 
your work will look spotted. 

In the kalsomining season have some large tubs 
and mix up as much whiting in hot water as you will 
need for several days. Add your color, glue, size and 
alum to as much onli/, as you want for immediate use» 
In hot weather I use liquid glue. 

LIQUID GLUE FOR KALSOMINE AND WALL SIZING. 

For use in hot weather, a liquid glue which will 
not decompose and smell badly, is very desirable to 
the workmen and the inmates of the house. 

JVo. 1. To make such a glue fill a bottle a little 
more than half full of broken up good white glue, and 
fill the bottle with common whiskey or equal parts of 
alcohol and water. Let it stand a few days and it 
will dissolve the glue ; this glue will keep for years. 
Keep the bottle corked. 

No. 2. Melt your glue in the usual way, thick as 
you will want it for any purpose, then put in J- or f 
ounce nitric acid to each pound of glue used ; enough 
to give the glue a sour taste like vinegar. The acid 
keeps it in a liquid state, and from spoiling. If you 
melt the glue in an iron kettle pour it into a wooden 
vessel, before you add the acid, otherwise tne acid will 
act on the iron and blacken the glue. When wanted 
for use it can be thinned as disired with cold water ; 
a cask full of this made up and kept air tight so the 
water will not evaporate will be found very handy to 
draw from, when you want a little in a hurry for glue 



Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 127 

size or kalsomine. When you make it up in this way 
put in at least 1 ounce of acid to the pound of glue 
to make sure it will keep liquid, so you can draw it 
from the cask. 

Acetic acid will answer the same purpose as nitric 
l«cid, but it will take more of it and make the liquia 
glue more expensive. 

TO PREPARE AN OLD WALL FOR PAINT OR PAPER. 

First cut out all the cracks V shape, clean out the 
holes and bevel the edges same as the cracks. Then 
fill with fine plaster paris mixed with thin glue size. 
Fill with care ; when dry, sand paper the filliog smooth 
and level. If the wall is sandy or rough, sand paper 
it smooth as you can. If the holes are large have a 
plasterer stop them, if you can ; if you fail in that, 
and the job must be done soon fit in thin boards, fill 
around the edges with plaster, and paste on cloth, or 
extra paper ; but to do a nice job you must insist on 
having the large holes plastered. If the hole is up out 
of reach, and too large for you to fill, cement the edges 
with plaster, stretch a piece of cloth, or extra thickness 
of paper over it, and it will look all right, because the 
paper will shrink tight when it dries. If you find 
places where the clinches are broken, and the plaster 
IS loose, press the plaster back to its place if you can, 
fend cut small holes through the plaster and turn small 
broad headed screws into the lath even with the plaster, 
and cement around the screws with plaster paris. 
If it is a smooth wall with rough sandy patches. 



128 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

sand paper down the patches a little below the level oi 
the wall, sweep out the loose plaster, give a coat oi 
glue size, and knife or trowel in a coat of plaster paris 
mixed with glue size or vinegar, and when dry, sand 
paper until smooth and level. 

There are several points to be considered and 
provided for in filling cracks in a plastered wall pre- 
paratory to painting. First, are the edges of the 
cracked wall level ? To determine this, lay your rule 
across the crack, and if you find the plaster on one 
side of the crack higher than the other, it shows thai 
side of the wall has sprung out of place, because the 
laths are loose or the clinches are broken. The firsi 
thing on the program is to get the highest edges back 
to "place". Failing in that, the next best thing is 
to raise the other side. If that scheme don't work, the 
next method is to use sand-paper on a block and rub 
down the highest side with a wide bevel to match the 
lowest, otherwise your filling will be at an angle more 
or less acute with the general surface of the wall, and 
cast a shadow or reflect the light according to which 
way the light falls upon it, and the place where the 
crack was will '* show " in spite of your best efforts to 
conceal it. If you find one edge of a crack higher 
than the other, gently- press against it, and if it goes 
back to place, cement it with plaster paris wet up 
in clear water, and it will set in three minutes hard 
enough to hold the plaster in place. If the loose edge 
will not go back by gentle pressure, la}^ a piece of 
board over it and push hard as you dare to and not 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 129 

crush the plaster. If it is still obstinate, drill out a 
piece and insert a bent wire or other instrument made 
on purpose, and see if you can feel the obstruction and 
remove it. Failing in this, see if you can raise up the 
lower side to a level with the highest and cement it 
fast. If the last scheme is too much for your patience 
and ingenuity, resort to the block and sand paper, and 
rub down the high side with a wide bevel to match the 
other. The next point is to prevent the paint near the 
€dges of the crack, and on the filling which we put in 
from drying flat while the balance of the wall bears 
out a gloss. To do this, we must find out the cause 
of the "flatting " near the edges of the crack and over 
the "filling ". If we examine into the matter, we will 
find that when the wall cracked the plaster adjacent 
was more or less fractured and made more porous than 
the uninjured portions of it. Hence, more oil is drawn 
from the paint near the crack than where the wall is 
solid. Now, for the remedy : With a small pointed 
brush wet the edges of the crack with linseed oil until 
they will take no more in. Let the oil dry, and fill 
the crack with plaster mixed with thin glue size, but have 
the top of the filling y^ of an inch below the surface 
of the wall. Let the filling dry, and with a fine pointed 
brush paint over the top of the filling and the edges of 
the crack. Let the paint dry, and finish filling with 
hard putty. Let the putty dry, and sand paper the job 
smooth and level. If you have to bevel the highest 
edge with sand paper, first fill the beveled portion with 
oil. Let the oil dry, and fill the pores with hard putty, 



130 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

because the part beveled with sand paper will be more 
porous than the balance of the wall. Treat and fill all 
small holes by the same method. Filling cracks in this 
way is a little tedious, I admit ; but it is the only way 
that I know of to stop a crack in plaster, so it will 
stay stopped and not show after it is painted. 

HOW TO PAINT A PLASTERED WALL. 

Prime with lead and raw oil, tinted like succeeding 
coats. Have the prime thin, not more than five 
pounds of white lead to the gallon of oil ; add a little 
benzine or turps to make it more penetrating. If the 
room is cool, warm up your prime before you add the 
benzine or turps. The idea is to have it penetrate as 
much as possible ; brush the prime well into the wall. 
If it is a sand wall, brush off the loose sand. If it is 
a smooth one, putty coated or hard finished wall, see 
that there are no lumps or grains of sand left on the 
surface. It is a good idea to pass the hand over the 
wall to feel the lumps, and to knock off lumps and 
grains of sand by going over the work with sandpaper. 

For second coat use glue size, made as directed on 
another page. 

Third coat. Mix so as to dry with a gloss, have 
the body fairly thick, and spread it well out. Mix 
with 3 parts linseed oil to 1 part turps. 

Fourth coat. If this coat is to be flat, mix it thick 
enough to cover well ; mix mainly with turps, if the 
weather is hot, or from any other cause the paint 



Grrinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 131 

don't work well, add a little lineseed oil. For an egg 
shell gloss, use about 1 part oil and S parts turps. 

If the wall is to be finished in stipple, mix the lasi 
coat half oil and half turps, rather thick, and add a 
little japan. To stipple strike the paint evenly an(i 
continuously with the square end of a large brush, 
made for the purpose ; a new clean duster will do. 
Let the stippler follow the painters. The coat of glu0 
size saves two coats of paint. It is put on after the 
prime to keep moisture and air from the glue, otherwise 
it would be liable to decay. 

Use boiled oil in all coats except priming coat. 
Have only enough difference in the color of the different 
coats, so you can see where you have painted, and not 
leave holidays ; especially in rooms where the light is 
not very good. 

Some painters advocate (especially on hard finished 
wall) a good filling of clear linseed oil, before any 
paint is put on to keep the surface from fire cracking. 

It is risky business to paint a new hot wall ; in such 
-cases if it must be done before the lime has become 
somewhat neutralized, give it a coat of vinegar, and 
let it stand a day or so before you put on the prime. 
The vinegar will neutralize the lime, and not hurt th« 
priming. 

TO PREPARE A ROUGH SANDY WALL FOR PAINT OR 
PAPER. 

If you have a rough brown mortar wall to paper, 
and want to make the job look smooth as possible, 
first go over it lightly with No. 2 paper to knock oflf 



133 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

the loose and most prominent grains of sand; then 
with No. 2 paper rub down all "cat faces " and trowel 
marks ; level up all hollows with plaster paris wet up 
in thin glue size or vinegar, and you will be ready to 
put on the lining paper. This paper should be soft 
and porous so that it will quickly absorb paste and 
not blister ; good white blank wall paper having but 
little color, will answer very well for this purpose. 
Start in to hang it with half a strip in width so as to 
break joints with the next coat ; use sufficient paste 
to make the paper stick to the wall ; butt the edges 
and be sure when the paper is dry, that there are no loose 
places. Eight here is the turning point of your job 
for ' f good or for bad ". 

Pound the lining paper down so closely that all the 
prominent grains of sand will show through, and be 
sure to make it stay there until dry. When the lining 
paper is dry, go over it with good sharp No. 1|- sand 
paper and cut out all the prominent grains of sand 
which show through the paper, being careful to rub no 
more than is necessary to take out the sand ; the idea 
being to cut through to the prominently projecting 
grains of sand, and rattle them out. Some walls will 
need a second coat of lining paper and another sand 
papering, before they are smooth enough for any thing 
like a fine job. If the owner refuses to stand the ex- 
pense of putting on lining paper, glue size the wall, 
and when dry, knock off the prominent grains of sand 
with sand paper and knife in plaster paris putty on th& 
rough places. In either case, take extra pains with 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 133 

portions of the wall where there are side lights, which 
always magnify rough places. Sandy walls may be 
leveled and smoothed somewhat, with a coat of kalso- 
mine to hold light bodied paper. 

Make a kalsomine of good white glue, 1 pound to 
15 pounds of whiting and half a pound of alum. Dis- 
solve the glue and alum in the usual way. When the 
kalsomine is dry, give the surface a thin coat of glue 
size to stop the suction. Let the glue size dry, then 
put on the paper; use light paste, and be sparing of it 
as you can and make the paper stick. I have often 
noticed that too much or too little paste is used in 
paperhanging ; some walls and some papers require 
more paste than others. Too much paste on a smooth 
wall, or too little on a rough one, makes bad work. 
If you use a roller for seams have it covered with 
short plush . To paint on a wall covered with lining 
paper as above described, first put on a coat of glue 
size. 

TO PAINT OVER NEWLY PLASTERED CRACKS IN 
WALLS. 

When the painter has to paint over holes and 
cracks in walls recently filled by the plasterer, he will 
be likely to have to deal with plaster made in part of 
fresh lime. In such cases, it is always best to soak 
the newly plastered places with strong vinegar to hill 
as much as possible the caustic properties of the lime. 
Put on the vinegar plentifully and let it soak in ; when 
dry, give the new plaster a coat of size made of linseed 



134 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

oil, japan and turpentine ; when dry, put on a coat of 
white shellac before painting. 

FLASHED GLASS SIGNS. 

Flashed glass is clear on one side and colored on 
the other; the colored glass forming only a thin film on 
one side of the clear glass. "We can make elegant 
signs on this glass by etching the letters through the 
colored portion of the glass, making the letters clear 
and the background colored ; or by etching out the 
background and leaving the letters colored. Lay out 
the letters on paper, and place it under the glass as a 
guide to work by ; then, with asphaltum varnish cover 
the background and leave the letters free and clear ; 
in other words "cut around them". If you want a 
clear background with colored border and colored letters, 
cover the letters and border and leave the background 
free and clear. Then melt some beeswax, and when 
it begins to cool, take up a small portion of it with a 
putty knife and scrape it off on the edge of the glass, 
and repeat the operation until a wall or dam is made 
all around the glass, to hold the acid you are about to 
put on the glass, from running off ; then pour on a 
little hydrofluoric acid, and it will etch out the colored 
glass not covered by the asphaltum in about one hour ; 
then you can pour the acid back into your bottle to be 
used again. Next wash the glass by pouring water 
over it; then scrape off the wax, and take off the 
asphaltum with turpentine. Some painters use a 
varnish made by melting together equal parts of 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 135 

paraffine and asphaltum and thinning to working con- 
sistency with turpentine. 

FLUORIC ACID, TO MAKE FOR ETCHING PURPOSES. 

You can make your own fluoric acid (sometimes 
called hydro-fluoric,) by getting the fluor spar, 
pulverizing it and putting as much of it into sulphuric 
acid as the acid will cut or dissolve. 

Druggists through the country do not keep this 
acid generally, but they can get it in the principal 
cities. One ounce will do at least fifty dollars worth 
of work. It is put in gutta percha bottles or lead 
bottles, and must be kept in them when not in use, 
having corks of the same material. Glass, of course, 
will not hold it, as it dissolves the glass, otherwise it 
would not etch upon it. 

LIQUID WOOD FILLERS FOR CHEAP WORK. 

Corn starch and cheap varnish are the principal 
ingredients of many cheap wood fillers ; the corn 
starch is mixed with the varnish and thinned with 
turps until workable, you can experiment on this idea. 

Corn starch in shellac in proportion of 1 pound to 
the gallon doubles its capacity as a filler. I have 
aiade and used a filler for cheap work this way : Pale 
rosin 2 pounds, boiled oil 1 gallon, japan 1 pmt. Melt 
the rosin in the oil, take the kettle outside, and add 
i gallon turpentine, stir, and when cold add i pound 
of corn starch. Thin with turps, until workable. Add 
more or less starch according Xo the surface you want 



136 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

to fill. These mixtures are all the better if run through 
a paint mill. 

ANOTHER PASTE FILLER. 

Corn starch mixed to a paste with one part linseed 
oil, two parts each japan and rubbing varnish ; thin 
to working consistency with turpentine. 




CARRIAGE PAINTING IN THE VILLAGE SHOP. 
NEW WORK. 

Prime with Bliss Kock and white lead, mixed thin 
in oil, add a little japan and turpentine to make the 
paint dry hard and quick ; when the priming is dry 
and hard, putty up with hard putty as directed on 
another page. Then follow with two coats of keg 
lead and Bliss Rock Paint ground in oil, and thinned 
with turpentine ; add a little japan to make it dry 
hard, and a little oil to make it work well. Care- 
fully mix and strain your paint. Give the body five 
coats of rough stuff, made as directed on page 144 and a 



Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 137^ 

guide coat, and when dry, proceed to cut down the- 
rough stuff. For this purpose your tools will be several 
pieces of pumice stone, a pail of water, a large flat 
file, a good sponge and a shammy. Flatten one side 
of your stone for a grinding surface and have no thin 
edges, because they will keep breaking off and be. 
liable to get under the stone, and scratch your work. 
Now, two of the most important things you will have ; 
to guard against, is cutting through the rough stuff 
and lead coats, and scratching the surface. There is a. 
great difference in pieces of pumice stone. Some are 
hard and full of flint like particles, which will scratch 
the work ; others are softer and of more even grit ;. 
the light colored and fairly open grained pieces are the. 
safest to use. You can tell a fast cutting stone by/ 
its open grain and lightness. The finer grades of. 
German rubbing brick and English rubbing stone are 
also used in rubbing rough stuff. A stone with 
a broad surface is preferable for large surfaces. 

Have small pieces to rub around the bolt heads and. 
other places which are difficult to get at with the 
large stone. The practiced workman can tell the. 
moment a stone begins to scratch, both by the sound 
and by the feeling to the hand, and you may traia 
your ear and nerve to this degree of sensitiveness ; until 
you do so, you will have to look sharp, and frequently 
rub your stone on the file, and clean off your work 
with a sponge full of water to see the condition of the 
work. Also by passing your hand back and forth 
across it to determine the condition of it, or if there^ 



138 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

is any large grit on it, liable to get under the 
stone and scratch. Rub until the brush marks are 
gone etc. , which your guide coat will show you. Use 
plenty of water while rubbing. Thoroughly wash the 
body inside and out. When dry, sandpaper lightly 
over the body to remove any grit which may be left 
on, and to clean out around the irons and panels, 
also to sand off the irons which you have not rubbed. 
Bust and wipe well, and when ready, put on a coat 
of drop black, ground in japan. In mixing your drop 
black, stir it before you add any turps, then add a 
little turps, and stir again until it is beaten to a 
smooth, soft paste ; then add sufficient turps to make 
a workable paint, thin enough to go on easily with a 
camel hair brush, which for body work on buggies 
should be not less than one and one-half inches wide 
and double thick. Painters disagree as to the use of 
oil in this coat. I like to use a very little good raw 
oil, say a tea-spoon full to a pint of color. It is a 
good idea to keep a brush on purpose to coat the inside 
of the body, because it is not usually made as smooth 
as the outside. Some practice putting on the color 
•coat in the morning and the color varnish towards 
'evening, but I prefer a longer time, say twenty-four 
hours at least, and more too, especially, when I use a 
little oil in the color coat. Rub the color with curled 
hair or hair cloth, dust well, and put on your color 
varnish ; some say with a bristle varnish brush, but 
I preper to mix it so I can use a camel hair brush. 
Por this coat mix drop black to a workable paint 



Grlnnell's Hand Book on Painting. 139' 

with equal parts of turps and good body varnish. 
When this coat is dry, give the body a coat of good 
rubbing varnish, using a fine bristle varnish brush. 
Flow on a free coat, lay off to right and left, and finish 
witli up and down strokes across the work. Never 
put a full brush at the lower edge of the body, because- 
in that case, you will be apt to get a fat edge. Watch 
for sags or runs which you can brush out, if discovered 
before the varnish sets. If a sag or run should get 
the start of you on this coat, and you see it after the- 
varnish begins to set, squeeze the varnish out of your 
brush, wet the point of it in turps, and carefully work 
out the sag or run. Now, dust off the running parts,, 
and put on a coat of color. Some say, have a little- 
more oil in the color for the gear than for the body, 
but I would not advise the use of more. When dry, 
put on a coat of color varnish. When dry, rub down 
with hair or hair cloth, and your gear is ready to 
stripe. 

To paint a wheel, paint one spoke at a time, paint 
both sides and the edge next to you, then take your 
brush in your left hand and paint the back edge, and 
so on, until the spokes are finished. Next paint the 
hub, then the outside and inside of the felly, then 
finish the gear, being careful to leave no laps. Use 
only fine lines for striping a buggy. The springs, 
bars, spoke faces, hubs and tongue is all the striping 
needed. Orange chrome, red, gold, bronze and light 
green, all harmonize with black, and either may be 
used for striping a black rig. When ready to varnish. 



140 Grmnen's Hand Book on i*alnting. 

set your gear on trestles. Varnish the wheels 
with a fine bristle varnish brush, and flow on 
a full coat. When done with a wheel, set it 
running on the spindle, and commence the next, and 
start it off again two or three times, while working at 
the next wheel, and so on with all the wheels ; by this 
method you may avoid runs, and be able to flow on a 
fuller coat than you otherwise could. For a finer job, 
give the gear a coat or two of clear rubbing varnish, 
and rub each coat down with curled hair or hair cloth. 
•For a cheap job, rub down the body with hair cloth, 
but for a finer one, rub it out with finely powdered 
pumice stone in water. For this method, you will need 
^ pail of clear water, some finely powdered pumice 
stone and a felt pad. The object of this work is to 
take the gloss off the rubbing varnish, and leave a 
smooth coat for the finishing varnish. The particular 
knack is to rub just enough, and then stop ; a little 
too much will cut through, and spoil the job ; and not 
enough will not give you the best possible foundation 
for your finishing coat of varnish. Keep the work 
washed off as you go, so you can see defective places, 
and rub them out. When done rubbing, the next 
thing is to wash the body perfectly free from grit. 
Your water brush comes in play here to wash around 
irons etc. , where the pumice might lodge ; then with a 
pail of clear water, rinse the body and wipe dry witn 
^ shammy skin. Eight here is a good time to give 
ihe inside of the body a coat of color varnish, and to 
,put on 3'our transfers, if you use any. Some painters 



Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 141 

ase a barrel for a body stand, but one made on pur- 
pose, of boards, is better. You want to look out for 
dust in every stage of the work, but right here you 
must be especially careful, because you are about to 
put on the finishing coat, which can neither be sand- 
papered nor rubbed down. You will learn from 
experience, if not before, that you cannot rely altogether 
upon the dust brush to free your work from dust and 
specks. A large soft dry shammy kept for the purpose, 
and never wet, can be used to advantage to wipe off the 
dust left by the brush. A hand bellows is very effective 
In taking dust out of corners where the brush or wiper can 
not be worked. When you have done all you can with 
the brush and wiper, rub the work over with your hand 
and the sensative nerves of your fingers will detect any 
specks which may still adhere to the surface. Some 
other essentials to a good job of varnishing are a clean 
room, free as possible from dust, clean brushes, and 
cups, and the person of the varnisher so dressed that 
he will not shed material for specks. Have one cup 
to hold your varnish and another to wipe your brush 
in. Use good varnish and never try to varnish a body 
with the temperature below 70 degrees F. Have a 
quill sharpened to a point to pick out any specks 
which you may discover on your work, because it re- 
quires very favorable conditions, and a mighty slick 
workman to prepare and varnish a body, and not have 
It show at least a speck or two. Use a fine chiseled 
bristle brush and know that it is absolutely free from 
specks before you commence. Now, when you are 



142 Grinneirs Hand Book on Painting. 

ready, don't be timid or try to see how far you cao 
make your varnish go. Keep in mind from the start 
that the nearer level, that is a uniform thickness you 
can have your coat of varnish the less liable it will be 
to sag or run. Put on your varnish with a full brush, 
laying it on right and left, and brush as level as you 
can, then finish with up and down strokes being care- 
ful to chisel off the surplus at the lower corner to 
avoid a fat edge. Note : A friend of mine, after laying 
on his varnish right and left finished with diagonal 
strokes across the surface at an angle of 45 degrees, 
then crossed it again at the same angle in an opposite 
direction. He had uniform good success. 

For an extra fine job, give the work more coats of 
rubbing varnish, and rub each coat with curled hair, 
or hair cloth ; or you may knife on a coat of putty 
made of keg lead and equal parts of turps and japan • 
rub it well in with the flat blade of the knife, and 
when it sets or flats, scrape off all surplus. Sandpapej 
when dry. This may go on in the place of third lead. 
You may when the job requires it knife on a coat ol 
hard putty, work it down smooth, let it dry and cut 
down with sandpaper. 

OLD WORK. 

•There are so many degrees of badness in repair 
work, that it is not possible to cover the entire ground 
in a work of this kind. They run all the way from the 
touch up and varnish job, to the cracked, scaled and 
almost paintless old rigs. For a touch up and varnish 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 143 

job at least one which is in decent shape for such work, 
wash the body, give it a rubbing down with fine 
powdered pumice stone, clean off and carefully putty 
cracks, dents etc. if any ; then touch up with color, 
use a small camel hair pencil, and cover only where 
necessary. When dry, give a full coat of body varnish. 
For a better job give the body a coat of black rubbing 
varnish (provided the body is black), then finish with 
a good coat of wearing body. The gear may be treated 
the same as the body if in like condition, but if the 
felloes are worn bare, lead them up and color as you 
would new work, then touch up the balance and varnish. 

The great plague of the paint shop is cracked work, 
which is otherwise solid. Where the varnish is hard 
but peeling, take it off with ammonia ; to do this, take 
a side of the body at a time, pour out some ammonia 
in a cup, and put it on with a clean brush kept for 
the purpose. Keep the side wet, until you can slice 
off the varnish with a putty knife ; if it fails to come 
off, you must keep it wet longer. If the varnish is 
dead and soft, sandpaper down to a solid foundation, 
then if cracks show sheet up with quick hard putty 
made soft enough to put on with a brush, and scrape 
off with a knife when set. When dry, sand paper and 
if the cracks are not full give it a second application 
of putty in the same way. Then for a cheap job give 
it a coat of color varnish, a coat of rubbing and a coat 
of body varnish. 

If you are to do a fine job, and can get pay for it, 
and you find the body cracked, burn off l^e old paint, 



144 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

and commence at the foundation as in new work. For 
a cheap job lead up the bare places on the gear and 
wheels, give a coat of color and a coat of color varnish 
and finish with heavy gear varnish. For a fine job if 
the old paint is cracked or scaled, take it off and work 
up from the wood as on a new job. 

ROUGH STUFF. 

1st. To make one coat per day rough stuff, take 
three pounds of Reno's filler and one pound of keg 
lead. Mix to stiff paste with equal parts of rubbing 
varnish, and first class japan, thin with turps. Some 
painters add a little raw oil. Grind the filler fine. 

2d. French yellow ochre dry, 5 pounds ; keg lead 
1^ pounds. Mix to stiff paste with equal parts gold 
size, or best brown japan and rubbing varnish ; thin 
with turps and add a gill of raw oil. Grind fine, 

CLEANING PHAETON CUSHIONS. 

This old phaeton cushion is too dusty for any use 
did 3^ou say ? I agree with you ; the old cloth covered 
phaeton cushion is one of the unmitigated nuisances 
which we are often compelled to tolerate in the paint 
shop. When such a cushion is once filled with dust, 
its capacity for "shedding" seems to be unlimited. 
The more you beat it and the longer you brush, it the 
more dust comes to the surface. You can take off a 
buggy cushion and relegate it to the back room, but 
the genius who invented that complicated vehicle called 
a phaeton, nailed the cushions fast to the body, and we 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 145 

must take them along with the job, dust and all, from 
the cleaning floor to the varnish room. 

When I am so unfortunate as to have an old phaeton 
brought to my shop, about the first thing I do after 
cleaning it up, is to go for the cushions with the 
sprinkler and wet them down with clean water, repeat- 
ing the operation as often as may be necessary to keep 
in the dust. 

Spoil the cushions ? No 1 When you run the rig 
out of the shop the owner will wonder what you have 
done to his cushions to make them look so bright. The 
same operation works well on an old cloth-lined top. 
After you have brushed all you think you can afford 
to, and the dust keeps coming to the front, turn the 
top bottom side up and give it a shower from the 
sprinkler, and I will guarantee the dust to lie still 
tong enough for you to dress the top and paint the 
bows. Dust is the natural enemy of the paint shop, 
and water is one of our best weapons to fight it with. 

MIXING QUICK COLOR. 

A quick drying color can be slowed up and made 
to dry to any required time without injuring it, while 
if ground in a slow drying preparation, it cannot pos- 
sibly be quickened without injuring more or less the 
working and covering properties. The working is cer- 
tainly important, and the covering more so. The cover- 
mg property should be strong, because the fewer coats 
of color on a job the better. Thus a quick dryer saves 
both labor and time. 



146 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

Japan colors are best when ground stiff, or with 
barely enough liquid to bind them firmly, because, 
after being reduced to thinness with turpentine alone, 
they will cling to the surface and will not smut. The 
color will then have its greatest covering power. Now, 
by the addition of sufficient pure raw oil to give the 
best working property, and being also made to dry 
flat, the color is as near perfection as possible, and 
the further addition of anything weakens the covering 
power. When an excess of japan is used in grinding, 
the color is thin, there being less pigment to the pound ; 
and it is of less value to the consumer, while it affords 
more profit to the manufacturer than when prepared 
as it should be. • 

BLACK VARNISH FOR GASOLINE STOVES, &C. 

Asphaltum two pounds, boiled linseed oil one pint, 
turpentine two quarts. Melt the asphaltum in an 
iron pot, heat the oil, and add it to the asphaltum 
while hot. Stir well. When partly cool, add the 
turpentine and four ounces of good japan. 

BLACK STENCIL INK. 

Shellac two ounces, borax two ounces, soft water 
twenty ounces, gum arable two ounces, lamp black and 
indigo sufficient. Boil the shellac and borax in the 
water until dissolved, then add the gum arable ; dis- 
solve and take the mixture from the fire ; when cold, 
add enough lamp black to give it color and proper 
consistency, and a little powdered indigo. Keep in 
glass or earthen-ware vessels. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 147 

BBONZE FOR BRIGHT METALS. 

Red aniline, (fuscine) ten parts, purple aniline 
five parts, alcohol 95 per cent, one hundred parts, 
benzoic acid five parts. Add the anilines to the 
alcohol, and dissolve by placing the vessel in a sand 
or water bath. As soon as dissolved, add the benzoic 
acid and boil for five or ten minutes, or until the 
greenish color of the mixture is turned to a brilliant 
light bronze; spread with a brush on bright metal. 

VARNISH TO FIX PENCIL DRAWINGS. 

Gum mastic three ounces, alcohol one pint. Dis- 
solve and apply with a brush. 

BUST SPOTS ON MARBLE. 

Apply a mixture of 1 part nitric acid and 25 parts 
of water, then rinse with 3 parts water and 1 part 
ammonia. 

WHITEWASH TO SOFTEN. 

To soften old whitewash which you wish to take 
off, wet it thoroughly with a wash made of 1 pound of 
potash, dissolved in 10 quarts of water. 

WATER GLASS FOR FLOORS. 

Clean the floor, fill cracks with water glass cement 
made of water glass and whiting, then put on a coat 
(fater glass, to be followed by second coat; when dry, 
rub the last coat with pumice stone and oil. 



148 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

TO FINISH RED WOOD. 

Take one quart of spirits turpentine ; add one pound 
of corn starch ; quarter of a pound burnt sienna ; one 
tablespoonful raw linseed oil and one tablespoonful 
brown japan. Mix thoroughly, apply with the brush, 
let it stand say fifteen minutes, rub oS all you can- 
with fine shavings or a soft rag, let it stand at least 
twenty-four hours that it may sink into and harden 
the fibers of the wood, afterward apply two coats of 
white shellac, rub down well with fine fiint paper, then, 
put on from two to five coats best polishing varnish ; 
after it is well dried rub with water and pumice stone- 
ground very fine ; stand a day to dry ; after being 
washed clean with a chamois, rub with water and 
rotten-stone ; dry ; wash as before clean, and rub with 
olive oil until dry. Some use cork for sandpapering 
and polishing, but a smooth block of hardwood like 
maple is better. When treated in this way, redwood 
will be found the peer of any wood for real beauty and 
life as a house trim or finish. 

MARKING INK. 

Asphaltum , dissolved in turpentine to a thin fluid, 
will give you an exellent marking ink for all purposes ;. 
dries quickty, does not spread, and is nearly indis- 
tructible. 



Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 149 

FORMULAS FOR MIXING COLORS. (SELECTED.) 

It is impossible to give infallible recipes for 
mixing colors, on account of the difference in the tone 
and color strength of pigments, both dry and in oil, 
many samples having as high as fifty per cent, of 
barytes or other white makewright material, which not 
only lessens the color strength of the mixture in 
proportion to their volume, but weakens the color, in 
a small measure, by their presence as white material. 
Hence, color formulas are made subject to modification, 
not only to please the taste of mixer, but on account of 
the presence of poor, weak and adulterated pigments 

The writer has selected a few formulas from which 
the learner may gain some knowledge of colors, which 
he can improve upon by experiment. 

Plumb. — White lead, 2 parts* ; Indian red, 1 part ; 
ultramarine blue, 1 part. If too dark, add more 
white lead. (Outside.) 

Brick. — Yellow ochre, 2 parts ; Venetian red, 1 
part; white lead, 1 part. If too dark, add more 
ochre. Don't depend upon the common ochre of the 
stores. It has but little tinting power. Use French 
ochre ground in oil. (Outside.) 

Bronze Green. — Chrome green, 5 parts ; lamp- 
black, 1 part ; burnt umber, 1 part. If too dark, use 
more green. (Outside.) 

Jonquil Yellow. — ^White lead tinted with chrome 
yellow and vermilion. 



* Note— Part means In bulk, not by weight. 



150 GrinnelPs Hand Book on Painting. 

Lead Color. — White lead, 16 parts ; ultramarine 
blue, 1 part ; lampblack, 2 parts. (Outside. ) 

Light Buff. — White lead tinted with yellow ochre. 
(Outside.) 

Lemon. — Lemon chrome yellow, 5 parts ; white 
lead, 2 parts. (Outside.) 

Brown. — Indian red, 3 parts ; lampblack, 2 parts ; 
yellow ochre, 1 part. If too dark, use more ochre or 
less black. (Outside. ) 

Chestnut. — Venetian red, 2 parts; lampblack, 1 
part ; medium chrome yellow, 4 parts. (Outside. ) 

Lilac. — Light Indian red, 3 parts j white lead, 3 
parts ; ultramarine blue, 1 part. 

Purple. — Light Indian red, 4 parts ; white lead, 3 
parts; ultramarine blue, 2 parts. 

London JSmoJce. — Burnt umber, 2 parts ; white 
lead, 1 part ; Venetian red, 1 part. 

Brown. — Venetian red, 3 parts ; drop black, 2 
parts; chrome yellow, 1 part. (Outside.) 

French Gray. — ^White, tinted with ivory or drop 
black. (Outside.) 

Olive Yellow. — Burnt umber, 3 parts ; lemon 
chrome yellow, 1 part. For lighter shade, add more 
yellow. 

Pearl — White lead, 6 parts ; Venetian red, 2 
parts ; lampblack, 1 part. If too dark, add more 
lead. (Outside.) 

Olive. — ^Lemon chrome yellow, 10 parts ; ultra* 
marine blue, 1 part ; light Indian red, 1 part. 

Cream Color. — White lead, 8 parts; French yellow 



Grinuell's Hand Book on Painting. 151 

ochre in oil, 2 parts ; Venetian red, 1 part. 
(Outside.) 

Tan. — Burnt sienna, 5 parts ; medium ctirome 
yellow, 2 parts ; raw umber, 1 part. If too red, add 
more raw umber. 

Pea Green, -s-White lead, 5 parts ; chrome green, 
1 part. Vary the proportions to suit. 

Drah. — White lead, 10 parts ; burnt umber, 1 
part. Vary to suit. 

Canary. — White lead, 6 parts ; lemon chrome 
yellow, 2 parts, or less, as you like it. (Outside.) 

Fawn. — White lead, 8 parts ; chrome yellow, 1 
part ; Indian red, 1 part ; burnt umber, 1 part. 
(Outside.) 

Grass Green. — Lemon chrome yellow, 3 parts ; 
Prussian blue, 1 part. 

Peach Blossom. — White lead, 1 part ; light Indian 
red, 1 part ; ultramarine blue, 1 part ; lemon chrome 
yellow, 1 part. 

Light Gray. — White lead, 10 parts; ultramarine 
blue, 1 part ; lampblack, 1 part. Make lighter or 
darker by using more or less white lead, as the case 
may require. 

Purple Brown. — Dark Indian red, 4 parts; ultra- 
marine blue, 1 part; lampblack, 1 part. Light up 
with white lead to fancy. If too purple, use less 
blue; if too red, use more black. (Outside.) 

Leather Brown. — Venetian red, 2 parts; yellow 
ochre, 4 parts ; lampblack, 1 part ; white lead, 2 parts 
or more, to suit. If too dark, use less black. (Outside. ) 



152 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

Dregs of Wine. — Tuscan red with a little lampblack 
and white lead. 

Leaf Bud. — Equal parts white lead, orange chrome 
and chrome green. If too dark, add more lead. (In- 
side only.) 

Coral Pink. — Vermilion (English^, 5 parts ; white 
lead, 2 parts ; chrome yellow, 1 part. (Inside. ) 

Maroon. — Tuscan red, 3 parts ; ultramarine blue, 

1 part. If too red, add more blue. 

Myrtle. — Dark chrome green, 3 parts; ultramarine 
blue, 1 part. Light up with white lead. 

Stone. — White lead, 5 parts ; French yellow ochre^ 

2 parts ; burnt umber, 1 part. Tint to desired shade 
with raw umber ; a very little will do. (Outside. ) 

Snuff. — Medium chrome yellow, 4 parts ; Vandyke 
brown, 2 parts. 

Rose. — White lead, 5 parts ; carmine, 2 parts. 
(Inside only.) 

Portland Stone. — Raw umber, 3 parts ; yellow 
ochre, 3 parts ; white lead, 1 part. (Outside. ) 

Ashes of Roses. — White, lightly tinted with blacky 
blue and lake. (Inside only.) 

Silver Grey. — Tint white lead with lampblack and 
indigo. 

Fine Chocolate. — Tint the best burnt umber with 
Munich lake. (Inside only. ) 

Fine Maroon. — Tint any deep red lake with a little 
orange chrome yellow. 

Vienna Smoke. — Tint fine burnt umber with lemon 
chrome yellow and a little Venetian red. 



Grinneli's Hand Book on Painting. 15a 

Quaher Green. — Chrome green, 3 parts ; lamp- 
black, 1 part ; Venetian red, 1 part ; medium chrome^ 
yellow, 1 part. 

ChamoUne.—L^moTi yellow, 1 part; raw sienna,. 
3 parts ; white lead, 5 parts. 

Clay i>ra6.— White lead, raw sienna, raw umber, 
equal parts. Tint with chrome green. 

Pear?.— White lead, tinted with ultramarine blue 
and lampblack. 

Copper. — Medium chrome yellow, 2 parts ; Vene- 
tian red, 1 part ; drop black, 1 part. 

Buttercup.— ^hS.tQ lead tinted with lemon chrome 
yellow. 

Flesh.— ^\niQ lead, 8 parts; light Venetian red, 
1 part ; orange chrome, 2 parts. 

Olive Brown. — Lemon chrome yellow, 1 part ; 
burnt umber, 3 parts. 

Deep Buff.— Yl\AiQ lead tinted with yellow ochre 
and a little Venetian red. (Outside.) 

SOME EXPENSIVE COLORS. 

CZare^.— Carmine, 2 parts; ultramarine blue, 1 part. 
(7Aama«io?i i?e^.— Carmine lake, 3 parts ; white 

lead, 1 part. 

Chocolate.— YmQ burnt umber, 5 parts; carmine 
or lake, 1 part. 

French Red.— ln6.\2iXi red and English vermilion, 
equal parts, glazed with carmine. 

i^ose.— White lead, 5 parts ; carmine. 2 parts. 



154 Grinnell's Hand Book on Painting. 

Yellow Lake, — Burnt umber and white lead, equal 
parts ; tint with chrome yellow and lake. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR TINTS AND COLORS. 

Delicate Flesh Tints, white predominating. — 1st, 
white and light red ; 2nd, white, Naples yellow, ver- 
milion ; 3rd, white, vermilion, and light red. 

Gray and Half Tints, white predominating. — 1st, 
white, vermilion and black ; 2nd, white and terre 
verte ; 3rd, white, black, Indian red and raw umber. 

Beep /Shades, color predominating. — 1st, light red 
And raw umber ; 2nd, Indian red, lake and black. 

Carnations. — 1st, white and Indian red ; 2nd, white 
and rose madder ; 3rd, white and lake ; 4th, white and 
Naples yellow. 

Carnations, color predominating. — 1st, rose madder 
and white ; 2nd, Indian red, rose madder and white. 

Green Tints, — 1st, white and ultramarine blue, 
with any yellow ; 2nd, white and terre verte ; add a 
little raw umber. 

Gray Tints. — 1st, ultramarine blue, light red and 
white ; 2nd, Indian red lake, black and white. 

Pearly White, white predominating. — 1st, white, 
vermilion and black ; 2nd, white, vermilion and black j 
3rd, white and black. 

Gray. — White, Venetian red and black. j 

Yellow. — Yellow ochre and white. j 

Olive. — Yellow ochre, terre verte and umber. 

JSky. — French blue and white. 



INDEX. 



Analysis of Yellow Ochre ..•.•• 8 

Brown Hard Spirit Varnishes 91 

Blistered Doors, to Repaint 87 

Brass, to Clean * 89 

Black Varnish for Iron 89 

Blinds, to Handle when Painting , SB- 
Brass and Copper, to Clean 39 

Black Varnish for Iron , » 84 

Bronze for Metal 87 

Benzine, to De-odorize 84 

Bronze 146 

Blackboard Slating 85 

Blackboard Slating, Cheap, but Good 85- 

Blackboard, to Make on Common Plaster 85- 

Brush Cleaning Trough 28- 

Brick, to Clean , 41 

Brick Painting 31 

Crawling Paint 4 

Cracks in Walls, to Fill 133 

Cleaning a Room 32 

Cherry Stain 4& 

Cracks in Paint and Varnish 24 

Cleaning Phaeton Cushions 144 

Carriage Painting 136 

Damp Walls, to Treat 75 

Dipping Paint 90 

Door-plates, to Clean 85 



Index. 

Damar Varnish , ... 29, 92 

Dry Ochre for Priming 2 

Estimating Work 18 

Enameled Letters, to Apply to Glass 97 

Furniture Varnish 92 

Fire-proof Paint for Roofs 88 

Fluoric Acid, to Make 135 

Gold Varnish 92 

Guessing on Work 12 

Glass, to Crystalize 85 

Gilding on Glass 12 

Gilding on Wood 41 

Grease Spots, to Kill 37 

Hard Wood Floors, to Finish 36 

Hard Putty 124 

Iron, to Paint 34 

Japan, Testing 23 

Japan, Use of 1 

Kalsomine 38 

Kalsomine, to Make and Apply 124 

Jjiquid Wood Fillers 135 

Lacquers for Brass and Tin 92 

Leather Varnish (black) 93 

Lead Poisoning and Symptoms 56 

Liquid Glue 95 

Lamp Black, to Mix 89 

Liquid Glue for Kalsomine and Wall Sizing .... 126 

Measuring a Job 20 

Mahogany Stain 47 

Midsummer Painting 69 

Mark's Cutter 80 

Marking Ink 148 

Natural Wood Finishing 49 

Old Carriage Work 142 

Oil Size for old Whitewash 40 

^Old Wall, to Prepare for Paint 127 



Index. 

Oak Stain, dark 48 

Oil Rubber Paint for Cloth 86 

Plastered Wall, to Paint 130 

Priming Outside 1 

Paste to Hold Labels on Tin 35 

Paint to Prevent Rotting under Ground 84 

Paint, to Remove 38 

Paper Hanger's Outfit 93 

Price List and Measurement 64 

Paint, to Clean 86 

Porcelain Finish , . . . 54 

Paper Hanger's Paste 93 

Putty, to Soften 21 

Puttty, to Color • 52 

Paste for Painted or Varnished Walls 94 

Rust Spots on Marble 147 

Red Saunders Stain 48 

Red Wood to Finish 148 

Rough Stuff 144 

Rough and Sandy Walls , . , , 131 

Red Lead 123 

Sizing Walls 95 

Stencil Alphabet 120 

Sign Painting 100—120 

Scaled Work, to Repaint 79 

Sixteenth Century Oak 57 

Spots on Paint 53 

Sandpapering 77 

Oak Wood Stain 95 

Stencil Border 78 

Spirit Varnishes 90—92 

Size Muslin for Lettering 79 

Slowing the Drying of Paint 87 

Stir your Paint 44 

Stencil Ink (black) 146 

Signs on Colored Glass 134 



Index. 

Strainers 37 

Silver, to Clean 39 

Stencil Staining • 29 

Success in Painting . , 11 

Symptoms of Lead Poison 57 

Tin Roofs, to Paint 3, 58, 59 

Tents etc., to Make Weather-proof 35 

Tacky Paint, to Cure 21 

Tinting Color Combinations . . 121 

Tortoise Shell, to Imitate 64 

Varnish to Fix Pencil Drawings 147 

Varnish to Imitate Ground Glass '62 

Varnish for Rustic Work - 62 

Varnish Stains 47 

Varnished Paint, to Clean 85 

Very Dirty Brass, to Clean 62 

Wax Polish . . , 28 

Whitewash, to Soften 147 

White Lead and Linseed Oil 5 

Water Glass for Floors 147 

Walnut Stain , 47 

White Hard Spirit Varnishes 91 

Walnut, to Stain like Mahogany 49 

Water Colors, to Mix 79 

White Shellac, to Make 52 

White Enamel 61 

Wall Sizing for Kalsomining 99 

Why do Wall Papers Crack 39 

Whitewash for Outside 37 

White Lead, the Difference in Using it 9 

Wax Floor Finish 90 

Zinc, to Clean • 41 

Zinc, to Paint on 3S 



I Mill nil llllllllllllllllllllllilllllUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIU£= 



,H2/-'^W3V^\fi^ 



f?;i I cyi f?i f?i ri^ fTi fVi 



gubscribe for 



T5^"to^"'^''3"''oj i-iy >-oj 




^PainteF 

85 FIFTH AVE., 

CHICAGO. 



oooooooooooooooooooo 



BkISS 



sss: i 



efRf) 



llfil 






?^ 



s* 



I. 



N 

T 
O 
N 

O 

w 

A 



t>. 



u 



DVRTISEMENTS INSIDE. 

f 



IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIn 






■^" 













* O N O 



A 



^% ^#pr^ ^ 



*^ o»"°. "^^ "" O* 



0^ .•::^^ 










^v'^'-^^. V 



* O N 











.c 








•I 




















"»:^^.\. 






